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Abstract:

Managing information relating to a locate and/or marking operation to
detect and/or mark a presence or an absence of at least one underground
facility. At least one electronic manifest corresponding to the locate
and/or marking operation is generated based on first information relating
to the locate and/or marking operation. The at least one electronic
manifest includes image information documenting performance of the locate
and/or the marking operation. At least one limited access file comprising
second information relating to the at least one electronic manifest or
the image information is generated, and the at least one limited access
file and/or information relating to the at least one limited access file
is electronically transmitted and/or stored to facilitate
selective/limited access to or viewing of the electronic manifest(s).

Claims:

1. An apparatus for managing information relating to a locate and/or
marking operation to detect and/or mark a presence or an absence of at
least one underground facility, the apparatus comprising: a communication
interface; a memory to store processor-executable instructions; and a
processing unit coupled to the communication interface and the memory,
wherein upon execution of the processor-executable instructions by the
processing unit, the processing unit: A) generates at least one
electronic manifest relating to the locate and/or marking operation based
on first information relating to the locate and/or marking operation, the
at least one electronic manifest including image information documenting
performance of the locate and/or the marking operation; B) generates at
least one limited access file comprising second information relating to
the at least one electronic manifest or the image information; and C)
controls the communication interface to transmit, and/or controls the
memory to store, the at least one limited access file and/or information
relating to the at least one limited access file.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein in B), the second information
included in the at least one limited access file relates to the at least
one electronic manifest.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein in B), the second information
included in the at least one limited access file relates only to the
image information.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the first information includes: a
base image of a geographic area in which the locate and/or marking
operation is performed; and geographic coordinates for at least one of
locate mark indicators, detection indicators, and landmark indicators to
be rendered on the base image; and the second information specifies
access permissions for at least one of the locate mark indicators, the
detection indicators, and the landmark indicators.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein in B), the processing unit generates
the at least one limited access file so as to limit or prevent at least
one of copying of, saving of, and writing to the at least one electronic
manifest or the image information.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing unit further: D)
allows access to the at least one limited access file and/or information
relating to the at least one limited access file only when one or more
certain conditions are met.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein in D), the processing unit allows
access to the at least one limited access file and/or information
relating to the at least one limited access file in response to a
password protected log-in procedure.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein in D), the processing unit allows
access to the at least one limited access file and/or information
relating to the at least one limited access file in response to an
indication of acceptance of terms and/or conditions.

9. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein in D), the processing unit allows
access to the at least one limited access file and/or information
relating to the at least one limited access file in response to payment
of a fee.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein in C), the processing unit controls
the communication interface to transmit the information relating to the
at least one limited access file, wherein the information includes a link
to the at least one limited access file.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein in C), the processing unit
controls the communication interface to send an email including the link
to the at least one limited access file.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein in C), the processing unit further
sets an expiration date for the link to the at least one limited access
file.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein in C), the processing unit controls
the communication interface to transmit, and/or controls the memory to
store, the at least one limited access file as at least one
password-protected limited access file.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein in C), the processing unit controls
the communication interface to transmit, and/or controls the memory to
store, the at least one limited access file as at least one encrypted
limited access file.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein in C), the processor controls the
communication interface to transmit, and/or controls the memory to store,
the at least one limited access file as at least one proprietary format
limited access file.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein in B), the processing unit further
configures the at least one limited access file so as to facilitate
access to the at least one limited access file only via a corresponding
image file viewer.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the at least one limited access
file comprises version information identifying a corresponding version of
the image file viewer to facilitate access to the at least one limited
access file.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein in C), the processor further
controls the communication interface to transmit the image file viewer to
facilitate access to the at least one limited access file.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the image file viewer prevents
write access to the at least one limited access file.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the image file viewer prevents
save access to the at least one limited access file.

21. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the image file viewer prevents
copy access to the at least one limited access file.

22. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the image file viewer requires a
password to permit access to the at least one limited access file.

23. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the image file viewer requires an
indication of acceptance of terms and/or conditions prior to permit
access to the at least one limited access file.

24. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein at least one limited access file
includes at least one encrypted file, and wherein the image file viewer
decrypts the at least one encrypted file.

25. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the image file viewer is
programmed to determine whether an updated version of the image file
viewer is available.

26. A method for managing information relating to a locate and/or marking
operation to detect and/or mark a presence or an absence of at least one
underground facility, the method comprising: A) electronically generating
at least one electronic manifest relating to the locate and/or marking
operation based on first information relating to the locate and/or
marking operation, the at least one electronic manifest including image
information documenting performance of the locate and/or the marking
operation; B) electronically generating at least one limited access file
comprising second information relating to the at least one electronic
manifest or the image information; and C) electronically transmitting
and/or electronically storing the at least one limited access file.

27. At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded
with at least one program including processor-executable instructions
that, when executed by a processor, perform a method for managing
information relating to a locate and/or marking operation to detect
and/or mark a presence or an absence of at least one underground
facility, the method comprising: A) electronically generating at least
one electronic manifest relating to the locate and/or marking operation
based on first information relating to the locate and/or marking
operation, the at least one electronic manifest including image
information documenting performance of the locate and/or the marking
operation; B) electronically generating at least one limited access file
comprising second information relating to the at least one electronic
manifest or the image information; and C) electronically transmitting
and/or electronically storing the at least one limited access file.

[0004] The application also claims a priority benefit, under 35 U.S.C.
§120, as a continuation-in-part (CIP) of U.S. non-provisional
application Ser. No. 12/703,313, entitled "Methods, Apparatus, and
Systems for Exchanging Information Between Excavators and Other Entities
Associated with Underground Facility Locate and marking Operations,"
filed on Feb. 10, 2010.

[0008] Each of the above-identified applications is incorporated by
reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

[0009] Excavators are required to notify underground facility
owners/operators in advance of their excavation activities and to
describe and communicate the geographic area of those activities to
underground facility owners/operators. The geographic area so described
is commonly referred to as "the dig area." In turn, facility
owners/operators are required to determine if they own or operate any
underground facilities at an identified dig area. The presence of
underground facilities at a dig area is generally detected using a device
commonly referred to as a "locate wand." Locate wands use a number of
electronic methods to detect the presence of underground facilities. The
location of those underground facilities, if any, which exist within a
dig area, is marked using paint or some other physical marking system,
such as flags. Paint is generally applied as a sequence of dashes or dots
on the surface (grass, dirt, asphalt, concrete, etc.) directly above the
underground facility and is color-coded to indicate to the excavator the
type (e.g., gas, water, sewer, power, telephone, cable television, etc.)
of the underground facility present. Flags, which also may identify the
underground facility via color-coding, can be placed in the ground
directly above the underground facility being marked. Paint and/or flags
can be dispensed using various devices. The process of detecting a
presence or an absence of one or more underground facilities and
indicating same via the application of paint, flags, or some other
marking object is often referred to as a "locate operation," or more
simply a "locate." The marks resulting from a locate are commonly called
underground facility "locate marks."

[0010] Underground facility owners/operators may perform locates with
in-house employees or choose to hire independent contract locating firms
to perform locates on their behalf. Generally, the person performing the
locate operation is called a locate technician. The set of instructions
necessary for a locate technician to perform a locate operation may be
called a "ticket." A ticket might specify, for example, the address or
description of the dig area to be marked, the day and/or time that the
dig area is to be marked, and/or whether the user is to mark the dig area
for telecommunications (e.g., telephone and/or cable television), power,
gas, water, sewer, or some other underground facility.

[0011] It is generally recommended, or in some jurisdictions required, to
document the type and number of underground facilities located, i.e.
telephone, power, gas, water, sewer, etc., and the approximate geographic
location of the locate marks. In practice, however, documenting of locate
operations is implemented irregularly and inconsistently, and is a manual
paper-based process.

[0012] As part of locate documentation, it is recommended (or in some
instances required) to document the distance, or "offset" of the locate
marks from environmental landmarks that exist at the dig area. An
environmental landmark may include any physical object that is likely to
remain in a fixed location for an extended period of time. Examples of an
environmental landmark may include a tree, a curb, a driveway, a utility
pole, a fire hydrant, a storm drain, a pedestal, a water meter box, a
manhole lid, a building structure (e.g., a residential or office
building), or a light post. For example, a telephone cable located two
and a half meters behind the curb of a residential street would be
documented as being offset two and a half meters behind the curb. These
offsets serve as evidence supporting the location of the locate marks
after those locate marks may have been disturbed by the excavation
process.

[0013] Documentation of some or all of the information regarding a locate
operation is often called a "manifest." A manifest may typically contain
a variety of information related to a locate operation including a manual
sketch (hand-drawing) of the dig area that identifies the approximate
location of the locate marks and environmental landmarks present at the
dig area; the time and date the locate operation was performed;
identification of the entity and the locate technician performing the
locate operation; the entity requesting the locate operation; the
geographic address of the dig area; the type of markings used for the
locate operation (e.g., colored paint, flags, or other markers); notes
from the locate technician; and/or a technician signature.

[0014] If performing locate operations with in-house employees, each
individual underground facility owner/operator generally documents on the
manifest only the existence of its facilities and the approximate
location of its locate marks. If an independent contract locating firm is
hired to perform locates for more than one underground facility
owner/operator, the contract locating firm may document on the manifest
some or all of the underground facilities at the dig area that it located
and the approximate location of all the locate marks.

SUMMARY

[0015] As noted above, conventional locate documentation may employ a
manual sketching process which results in the creation of a paper
manifest. Applicants have recognized and appreciated that such paper
manifests produced by hand are often not to scale, incomplete, prone to
human error, and costly in drafting time spent by the locate technician
(who is typically not a professional draftsperson). Paper manifests are
stored as they are (e.g., in filing cabinets or storage boxes) or in some
jurisdictions the paper manifests are digitally scanned/photographed.
Because the manifests are stored as paper or scanned images/photographs,
they are not in a format that readily provides for indexing, cataloguing
or archiving, and easy searching, nor are they in a format that
facilitates data analysis or interrogation in any mechanized or automated
way.

[0016] In view of the foregoing, various embodiments of the present
invention are directed to methods, apparatus and systems for creating a
searchable electronic record, or "electronic manifest," relating to a
geographic area including a dig area to be excavated or otherwise
disturbed. In some implementations, the geographic location of one or
more physical locate marks, applied to the dig area during a locate
operation to indicate a presence (or absence) of one or more underground
facilities, is somehow identified with respect to its immediate
surroundings in the geographic area to form part of the electronic
record. Additionally or alternatively, one or more geographic locations
of where underground facilities are detected (e.g., prior to marking) may
be identified in some manner with respect to the immediate surrounding to
form part of the electronic record.

[0017] To create such an electronic record, in one exemplary
implementation one or more input images relating to the geographic area
including the dig area may be utilized. For example, source data
representing one or more input images of a geographic area including the
dig area is received and/or processed so that the input image(s) may be
displayed on a display device. The geographic location of the physical
locate mark(s), and/or detected locations of one or more underground
facilities, are then indicated in some manner on the displayed input
image(s) so as to generate one or more marked-up images constituting at
least a portion of the electronic record. For example, geographic
locations of the physical locate mark(s) and/or detected facilities may
be indicated in the marked-up image(s) using digital representation(s) of
the physical locate mark(s) ("locate mark indicators") and/or detected
facilities ("detection indicators") that are added to the marked-up
image(s). In other implementations, the input image need not necessarily
be displayed to add one or more locate mark and/or detection indicators;
for example, geographic information relating to one or more physical
locate marks applied to the dig area and/or detected facilities may be
received and locate mark indicator(s) and/or detection indicator(s) may
be added to the input image based on the geographic information, without
requiring display of the input image.

[0018] In some implementations of the inventive concepts disclosed herein,
the searchable electronic record may include a variety of non-image
information to facilitate identification of the dig are and its immediate
surroundings, including the geographic location(s) of the physical locate
mark(s) and/or detected facilities. Examples of such non-image
information include, but are not limited to, a text description of the
geographic location of the dig area, an address or lot number of a
property within which the dig area is located, geo-encoded information
such as geographic coordinates relating to the dig area and/or various
aspects of the geographic area surrounding the dig area, as well as other
non-image information relating generally to the locate operation (e.g., a
timestamp for the locate operation, geographic coordinates for locate
mark indicators and/or detection indicators, one or more identifiers for
a locate technician and/or a locate company performing the locate
operation, information regarding one or more environmental landmarks,
etc.). The marked-up image(s) and the non-image information may be
formatted in a variety of manners in the searchable electronic record;
for example, in one implementation the non-image information may be
included as metadata associated with the marked-up image(s), while in
other implementations the marked-up image(s) and the non-image
information may be formatted as separate data sets. These separate data
sets may be transmitted and/or stored separately. In another aspect,
whether transmitted/stored separately or together, the marked-up image(s)
and the non-image information may be linked together in some manner as
relating to a common electronic record.

[0019] Electronic manifests as described herein according to various
embodiments may be created in significant part by a user/technician using
electronic drawing tools to facilitate sketching or drawing, in an
electronic display field, of various features relating to a locate
operation. Electronic manifests created in this manner (via significant
interaction by a user/technician) are referred to herein as "manual"
electronic manifests. In some embodiments described in detail further
below, electronic manifests alternatively may be created via a
semi-automated or automated process, in which a user/technician may
provide relatively little or no information, and at least some (if not
all) data relating to a locate operation is automatically uploaded (e.g.,
from locate instrumentation providing geographic information relating to
detected and/or marked underground facilities, and/or by analyzing locate
request tickets and extracting relevant ticket information therefrom).
For example, in some implementations of a "semi-automated" or "automated"
electronic manifest, geographic coordinates corresponding to detected
and/or marked facilities may be automatically uploaded from locate
instrumentation (such as locate receivers and marking apparatus) and
overlaid on a digital image to provide at least some of the information
constituting an electronic record of a locate operation. Additional
information relating to the generation of semi-automated or automated
electronic manifests may be found in U.S. publication number
US2010-0117654-A1, published on May 13, 2010, and entitled "Methods and
Apparatus for Displaying an Electronic Rendering of a Locate and/or
Marking Operation Using Display Layers," which is hereby incorporated
herein by reference in its entirety.

[0020] In exemplary aspects, multiple image layers may be employed,
wherein one or more base images for an electronic manifest may be
selectively enabled or disabled for display to facilitate comparative
viewing of different base images (e.g., aerial or other photographic
image, digital maps, facilities maps, grids, manual electronic sketches,
etc.). Additionally, multiple image layers may be used for different
categories of information overlaid on the base image(s) relating to the
locate operation (e.g., locate and marking information for different
facility types, landmark information for different landmarks, etc.),
again to facilitate comparative viewing. Accuracy indicators and/or
calibration factors may be used to ensure geographic integrity and
appropriate registration of displayed information in respective layers.
Revision layers may be employed so that "raw" data, modified data, and/or
annotated images may be maintained and locked to prevent unauthorized
modifications. Limited access files also may be employed for electronic
manifests to prevent unauthorized edits to or use of manifests.
Additional safeguards may be used to ensure that manifests are created at
or near the work site, and information in the manifests may be analyzed
to assess labor/material costs.

[0021] In another aspect, various techniques may be employed to facilitate
creation of electronic manifests if one or more appropriate digital base
images are not available or of poor quality. For example, in one
embodiment, a base image may be sketched manually by a user/technician
(e.g., on a displayed grid) with an electronic drawing tool.
Edge-detection and other image processing algorithms (e.g., smoothing,
filtering, sharpening, thresholding, opacity/transparency, etc.) may be
employed in connection with various types of base images to improve
feature recognition and/or remove undesirable features. For example, in a
manner similar to that noted above in connection with image layers,
multiple graphics layers (e.g., bitmap and/or vector graphics layers) may
be composited over a given base image, wherein one or more graphics
filters are employed for the respective graphics layers to improve one or
more aspects of image quality and enable comparative viewing of original
and processed image information.

[0022] In sum, one embodiment of the invention is directed to a method for
managing and displaying information relating to a locate operation and/or
a marking operation to detect and/or mark a presence or an absence of at
least one underground facility, the method comprising: A) electronically
storing first information relating to a first electronic rendering of the
locate and/or marking operation; B) accepting from at least one user
interface at least one user input relating to a modification of the first
electronic rendering; C) electronically storing second information
relating to a second electronic rendering of the locate and/or marking
operation, wherein the second electronic rendering is based at least in
part on the at least one user input relating to the modification of the
first electronic rendering; and D) providing for independent enabling or
disabling for display, via the at least one user interface, of (i) at
least one first layer constituting at least part of the first electronic
rendering, and/or (ii) at least one second layer constituting at least
part of the second electronic rendering.

[0023] Another embodiment is directed to an apparatus for managing and
displaying information relating to a locate operation and/or a marking
operation to detect and/or mark a presence or an absence of at least one
underground facility, the apparatus comprising: a memory to store
processor-executable instructions; at least one user interface; and a
processor coupled to the memory and the at least one user interface,
wherein upon execution of the processor-executable instructions, the
processor: A) controls the memory to electronically store first
information relating to a first electronic rendering of the locate and/or
marking operation; B) accepts from the at least one user interface at
least one user input relating to a modification of the first electronic
rendering; C) controls the memory to electronically store second
information relating to a second electronic rendering of the locate
and/or marking operation, wherein the second electronic rendering is
based at least in part based on the at least one user input; and D)
provides for independent enabling or disabling for display, via the at
least one user interface, of (i) at least one first layer constituting at
least part of the first electronic rendering, and/or (ii) at least one
second layer constituting at least part of the second electronic
rendering.

[0024] Another embodiment is directed to at least one non-transitory
computer-readable storage medium encoded with at least one program
including processor-executable instructions that, when executed by a
processor, perform a method for managing and displaying information
relating to a locate operation and/or a marking operation to detect
and/or mark a presence or an absence of at least one underground
facility, the method comprising: A) electronically storing first
information relating to a first electronic rendering of the locate and/or
marking operation; B) accepting at least one user input relating to a
modification of the first electronic rendering; C) electronically storing
second information relating to a second electronic rendering of the
locate and/or marking operation, wherein the second electronic rendering
is based at least in part on the at least one user input relating to the
modification of the first electronic rendering; and D) providing for
independent enabling or disabling for display of (i) at least one first
layer comprising the first electronic rendering, and/or (ii) at least one
second layer comprising the second electronic rendering.

[0025] Another embodiment is directed to a method for providing on a
display device an electronic rendering of a locate operation and/or a
marking operation to detect and/or mark a presence or an absence of at
least one underground facility, the method comprising: A) electronically
categorizing information relating to the locate operation and/or the
marking operation into a plurality of display layers of the electronic
rendering, the plurality of display layers including: at least one first
display layer comprising original information relating to the locate
operation and/or the marking operation; and at least one second display
layer comprising modified information relating to the locate operation
and/or the marking operation, wherein the modified information is based
at least in part on one or more revisions to the original information; B)
providing for independent enabling or disabling for display, via at least
one user interface, of the at least one first display layer and the at
least one second display layer; and C) displaying in a display field of
the display device only enabled display layers of the plurality of
display layers so as to provide the electronic rendering of the locate
operation and/or the marking operation.

[0026] Another embodiment is directed to an apparatus for providing on a
display device an electronic rendering of a locate operation and/or a
marking operation to detect and/or mark a presence or an absence of at
least one underground facility, the apparatus comprising: a memory to
store processor-executable instructions; at least one user interface; a
display device; and a processor coupled to the memory, the at least one
user interface, and the display device, wherein upon execution of the
processor-executable instructions, the processor: A) electronically
categorizes information relating to the locate operation and/or the
marking operation into a plurality of display layers of the electronic
rendering, the plurality of display layers including: at least one first
display layer comprising original information relating to the locate
operation and/or the marking operation; and at least one second display
layer comprising modified information relating to the locate operation
and/or the marking operation, wherein the modified information is based
at least in part on one or more revisions to the original information; B)
provides for independent enabling or disabling for display, via at least
one user interface, of the at least one first display layer and the at
least one second display layer; and C) controls the display device so as
to display only enabled display layers of the plurality of display layers
so as to provide the electronic rendering of the locate operation and/or
the marking operation.

[0027] Another embodiment is directed to at least one non-transitory
computer-readable storage medium encoded with at least one program
including processor-executable instructions that, when executed by a
processor, perform a method for providing on a display device an
electronic rendering of a locate operation and/or a marking operation to
detect and/or mark a presence or an absence of at least one underground
facility, the method comprising: A) electronically categorizing
information relating to the locate operation and/or the marking operation
into a plurality of display layers of the electronic rendering, the
plurality of display layers including: at least one first display layer
comprising original information relating to the locate operation and/or
the marking operation; and at least one second display layer comprising
modified information relating to the locate operation and/or the marking
operation, wherein the modified information is based at least in part on
one or more revisions to the original information; B) providing for
independent enabling or disabling for display of the at least one first
display layer and the at least one second display layer; and C)
displaying in a display field only enabled display layers of the
plurality of display layers so as to provide the electronic rendering of
the locate operation and/or the marking operation.

[0028] Another embodiment is directed to an apparatus for managing
information relating to a locate operation and/or a marking operation to
detect and/or mark a presence or an absence of at least one underground
facility, the apparatus comprising: a communication interface; a memory
to store processor-executable instructions; and a processor coupled to
the communication interface and the memory, wherein upon execution of the
processor-executable instructions by the processor, the processor:
controls the communication interface so as to electronically receive
first information relating to the locate operation and/or the marking
operation; based on the first information, generates at least one
electronic manifest relating to the locate operation and/or the marking
operation, the at least one electronic manifest including image
information documenting performance of the locate operation and/or the
marking operation; generates at least one limited access file comprising
second information relating to the at least one electronic manifest; and
controls the communication interface to transmit, and/or controls the
memory to store, the at least one limited access file.

[0029] Another embodiment is directed to a method for managing information
relating to a locate operation and/or a marking operation to detect
and/or mark a presence or an absence of at least one underground
facility, the method comprising: A) electronically receiving first
information relating to the locate operation and/or the marking
operation; B) based on the first information, electronically generating
at least one electronic manifest relating to the locate operation and/or
the marking operation, the at least one electronic manifest including
image information documenting performance of the locate operation and/or
the marking operation; C) electronically generating at least one limited
access file comprising second information relating to the at least one
electronic manifest; and D) electronically transmitting and/or
electronically storing the at least one limited access file.

[0030] Another embodiment is directed to at least one non-transitory
computer-readable storage medium encoded with at least one program
including processor-executable instructions that, when executed by a
processor, perform a method for managing information relating to a locate
operation and/or a marking operation to detect and/or mark a presence or
an absence of at least one underground facility, the method comprising:
A) electronically receiving first information relating to the locate
operation and/or the marking operation; B) based on the first
information, electronically generating at least one electronic manifest
relating to the locate operation and/or the marking operation, the at
least one electronic manifest including image information documenting
performance of the locate operation and/or the marking operation; C)
electronically generating at least one limited access file comprising
second information relating to the at least one electronic manifest; and
D) electronically transmitting and/or electronically storing the at least
one limited access file.

[0031] Another embodiment is directed to a method for generating an
accuracy-referenced electronic record of a locate and/or marking
operation performed by a locate technician, the locate and/or marking
operation comprising locating and/or identifying, using at least one
physical locate mark, a presence or an absence of at least one
underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the
dig area may be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities, the
method comprising: A) digitally representing, on a display device, the
location of the at least one underground facility and/or the at least one
physical locate mark so as to generate a representation of the locate
and/or marking operation; B) digitally representing, on the display
device, the accuracy of the represented location using at least one
accuracy indicator overlaid on the representation of the locate and/or
marking operation so as to generate an accuracy-annotated representation
of the locate and/or marking operation; and C) electronically
transmitting and/or electronically storing information relating to the
accuracy-annotated representation of the locate and/or marking operation
so as to generate an accuracy-referenced electronic record of the locate
and/or marking operation.

[0032] In the method above, the at least one accuracy indicator may
comprise, for example, a user-estimated error radius and/or an indication
of a user-estimated range of potential error, although the embodiment is
not limited in these respects.

[0033] Another embodiment is directed to a method for generating an
accuracy-referenced electronic record of a locate and/or marking
operation performed by a locate technician, the locate and/or marking
operation comprising locating and/or identifying, using at least one
physical locate mark, a presence or an absence of at least one
underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the
dig area may be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities, the
method comprising: A) electronically receiving first information
regarding a location of the at least one underground facility and/or the
at least one physical locate mark; B) based at least in part on the first
information received in A), digitally representing, on a display device,
the location of the at least one underground facility and/or the at least
one physical locate mark so as to generate a representation of the locate
and/or marking operation; C) electronically receiving second information
regarding an accuracy of the represented location; D) based at least in
part on the second information received in C), digitally representing, on
the display device, the accuracy of the represented location using at
least one accuracy indicator overlaid on the representation of the locate
and/or marking operation so as to generate an accuracy-annotated
representation of the locate and/or marking operation; and E)
electronically transmitting and/or electronically storing third
information relating to the accuracy-annotated representation of the
locate and/or marking operation so as to generate an accuracy-referenced
electronic record of the locate and/or marking operation.

[0034] In the method above, A) may comprise receiving the first
information from a GPS-enabled locating and/or marking device. Similarly,
C) may comprise receiving the second information from a GPS-enabled
locating and/or marking device. The at least one accuracy indicator may
comprise, for example, a user-estimated error radius and/or an indication
of a user-estimated range of potential error. However, it should be
appreciated that the embodiment is not limited in these respects.

[0035] Another embodiment is directed to a method for generating a
corrected electronic record of a locate and/or marking operation
performed by a locate technician, the locate and/or marking operation
comprising locating and/or identifying, using at least one physical
locate mark, a presence or an absence of at least one underground
facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig area
may be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities, the method
comprising: A) electronically receiving first information regarding a
location of the at least one underground facility and/or the at least one
physical locate mark; B) based at least in part on the first information
received in A), digitally representing, on a display device, the location
of the least one underground facility and/or the at least one physical
locate mark so as to generate a representation of the locate and/or
marking operation; C) receiving second information regarding a corrected
location of the at least one underground facility and/or the at least one
physical locate mark; D) based at least in part on the second information
received in C), digitally representing, on the display device, the
corrected location so as to generate a corrected representation of the
locate and/or marking operation; and E) electronically transmitting
and/or electronically storing third information relating to the corrected
representation of the locate and/or marking operation so as to generate a
corrected electronic record of the locate and/or marking operation.

[0036] In the method above, A) may comprise receiving the first
information from a GPS-enabled locating and/or marking device. Similarly,
C) may comprise receiving the second information from a GPS-enabled
locating and/or marking device. B) may comprise digitally representing
the location of the least one underground facility and/or the at least
one physical locate mark on an underlying input image. In the latter
case, the second information may comprise information identifying a
reference location in the underlying input image. However, it should be
appreciated that the embodiment is not limited in these respects.

[0037] Another embodiment is directed to a method for generating a
calibration factor based on user input received in connection with a
location of at least one underground facility and/or at least one
physical locate mark of a locate and/or marking operation performed by a
locate technician, the locate and/or marking operation comprising
locating and/or identifying, using the at least one physical locate mark,
a presence or an absence of the at least one underground facility within
a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig area may be excavated
or disturbed during excavation activities, the method comprising: A)
electronically receiving first information regarding a location of the at
least one underground facility and/or the at least one physical locate
mark; B) based at least in part on the first information received in A),
digitally representing, on a display device, the location of the least
one underground facility and/or the at least one physical locate mark so
as to generate a representation of the locate and/or marking operation;
C) receiving second information regarding a corrected location of the at
least one underground facility and/or the at least one physical locate
mark; D) based at least in part on the second information received in C),
determining a calibration factor for the location of the at least one
underground facility and/or the at least one physical locate mark; and E)
electronically transmitting and/or electronically storing the calibration
factor so as to facilitate correction of other location data.

[0038] In the method above, the other location data may relate to another
locate and/or marking operation and/or another location of the at least
one underground facility and/or the at least one physical locate mark,
although the embodiment is not limited in these respects.

[0039] Another embodiment is directed to a method for assessing an aspect
relating to a locate and/or marking operation performed by a locate
technician based on an electronic representation of the locate and/or
marking operation, the locate and/or marking operation comprising
locating and/or identifying, using at least one physical locate mark, a
presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig
area, wherein at least a portion of the dig area may be excavated or
disturbed during excavation activities, the method comprising: A)
digitally representing, on a display device, at least one underground
facility and/or the at least one physical locate mark so as to generate a
representation of the locate and/or marking operation; B) determining a
length associated with the representation of the locate and/or marking
operation; and C) based at least in part on the length determined in B),
automatically assessing an aspect relating to a locate and/or marking
operation.

[0040] In the method above, the aspect may comprise (1) a cost associated
with a locate and/or marking operation or (2) a productivity and/or
competence of a locate technician who performs a locate and/or marking
operation, although the embodiment is not limited in this respect.

[0041] Another embodiment is directed to a method for assessing a cost
associated with a locate and/or marking operation performed by a locate
technician based on an electronic representation of the locate and/or
marking operation, the locate and/or marking operation comprising
locating and/or identifying, using at least one physical locate mark, a
presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig
area, wherein at least a portion of the dig area may be excavated or
disturbed during excavation activities, the method comprising: A)
digitally representing, on a display device, at least one underground
facility and/or the at least one physical locate mark so as to generate a
representation of the locate and/or marking operation; B) determining a
length associated with the representation of the locate and/or marking
operation; and C) based at least in part on the length determined in B),
automatically assessing a cost associated with the locate and/or marking
operation.

[0042] The method above may further comprise: D) automatically generating
a bill based at least in part on the cost determined in C), although the
embodiment is not limited in this respect.

[0043] Another embodiment is directed to a method for assessing a
productivity and/or competence of a locate technician who performs a
locate and/or marking operation, the locate and/or marking operation
comprising locating and/or identifying, using at least one physical
locate mark, a presence or an absence of at least one underground
facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig area
may be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities, the method
comprising: A) digitally representing, on a display device, at least one
underground facility and/or the at least one physical locate mark so as
to generate a representation of the locate and/or marking operation; B)
determining a length associated with the representation of the locate
and/or marking operation; C) determining duration of time associated with
the locate and/or marking operation; and D) based at least in part on the
length determined in B) and the duration of time determined in C),
automatically assessing a productivity and/or competence of the locate
technician.

[0044] Another embodiment is directed to an apparatus for managing
information relating to a locate operation and/or a marking operation to
detect and/or mark a presence or an absence of at least one underground
facility, the apparatus comprising: a communication interface; a memory
to store processor-executable instructions; and a processor coupled to
the communication interface and the memory, wherein upon execution of the
processor-executable instructions by the processor, the processor: A)
controls the communication interface so as to electronically receive
first information relating to the locate operation and/or the marking
operation, the first information including image information; B)
processes the image information to improve at least one aspect of an
image represented by the image information and thereby provide improved
image information; and C) generates at least one electronic manifest
relating to the locate operation and/or the marking operation, the at
least one electronic manifest including the improved image information
and documenting performance of the locate operation and/or the marking
operation. In one aspect of this embodiment, the processor-executable
instructions include at least one image processing algorithm selected
from the group consisting of an edge-detection algorithm, a smoothing
algorithm, a filtering algorithm, a sharpening algorithm, a thresholding
algorithm, and an opacity/transparency algorithm, and wherein in B), the
processor processes the image information by executing the at least one
image processing algorithm.

[0045] Another embodiment is directed to a method for generating a
searchable electronic record of a locate operation performed by a locate
technician, the locate operation comprising identifying, using at least
one physical locate mark, a presence or an absence of at least one
underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the
dig area may be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities. The
method comprises: A) displaying, on a display device, a bare grid; B)
adding to the displayed bare grid, via a user input device associated
with the display device, at least one digital representation of the at
least one physical locate mark so as to generate a marked-up grid
including the at least one digital representation of the at least one
physical locate mark; and C) electronically transmitting and/or
electronically storing information relating to the marked-up grid so as
to generate the searchable electronic record of the locate operation.

[0046] Another embodiment is directed to a computer-readable medium
encoded with instructions that, when executed on at least one processing
unit, perform a method of generating a searchable electronic record of a
locate operation performed by a locate technician, the locate operation
comprising identifying, using at least one physical locate mark, a
presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig
area, wherein at least a portion of the dig area may be excavated or
disturbed during excavation activities, the method comprising: A)
rendering, on a display device, a bare grid; B) receiving user input
relating to a geographic location of the at least one physical locate
mark; C) adding to the displayed bare grid at least one digital
representation of the at least one physical locate mark so as to generate
a marked-up grid including the at least one digital representation of the
at least one physical locate mark; and D) electronically transmitting
and/or electronically storing information relating to the marked-up grid
so as to generate the searchable electronic record of the locate
operation.

[0047] Another embodiment is directed to an apparatus for facilitating
generation of a searchable electronic record of a locate operation
performed by a locate technician, the locate operation comprising
identifying, using at least one physical locate mark, a presence or an
absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area, wherein
at least a portion of the dig area may be excavated or disturbed during
excavation activities, the apparatus comprising: a communication
interface; a display device; a user input device; a memory to store
processor-executable instructions; and a processing unit coupled to the
communication interface, the display device, the user input device, and
the memory, wherein upon execution of the processor-executable
instructions by the processing unit, the processing unit: controls the
display device to display a bare grid; acquires, via the user interface,
user input relating to a geographic location of the at least one physical
locate mark; controls the display device to display a marked-up grid
including at least one digital representation of the at least one
physical locate mark based at least in part on the user input; and
controls the communication interface and/or the memory to electronically
transmit and/or electronically store information relating to the
marked-up grid so as to generate the searchable electronic record of the
locate operation.

[0048] Another embodiment is directed to a method for generating a
searchable electronic record of a locate operation performed by a locate
technician, the locate operation comprising identifying, using at least
one physical locate mark, a presence or an absence of at least one
underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the
dig area may be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities, the
method comprising: A) electronically receiving a digital image of a
geographic area comprising the dig area, at least a portion of the
received digital image being displayed on a display device; B) adding to
the displayed digital image, via a user input device associated with the
display device, (i) at least one digital representation of at least one
physical indication of a dig area observed by the locate technician
during the locate operation and (ii) at least one digital representation
of the at least one physical locate mark so as to generate a marked-up
digital image; and C) electronically transmitting and/or electronically
storing information relating to the marked-up digital image so as to
generate the searchable electronic record of the locate operation.

[0049] Another embodiment is directed to a computer-readable medium
encoded with instructions that, when executed on at least one processing
unit, perform a method of generating a searchable electronic record of a
locate operation performed by a locate technician, the locate operation
comprising identifying, using at least one physical locate mark, a
presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig
area, wherein at least a portion of the dig area may be excavated or
disturbed during excavation activities, the method comprising: A)
rendering, on a display device, a digital image of a geographic area
comprising the dig area; B) receiving first user input relating to a
geographic location of at least one physical indication of the dig area
observed by the locate technician during the locate operation; C)
receiving second user input relating to a geographic location of the at
least one physical locate mark; D) adding to the displayed digital image,
via a user input device associated with the display device, at least one
digital representation of the at least one physical indication of the dig
area and at least one digital representation of the at least one physical
locate mark so as to generate a marked-up digital image; and E)
electronically transmitting and/or electronically storing information
relating to the marked-up digital image so as to generate the searchable
electronic record of the locate operation.

[0050] Another embodiment is directed to an apparatus for facilitating
generation of a searchable electronic record of a locate operation
performed by a locate technician, the locate operation comprising
identifying, using at least one physical locate mark, a presence or an
absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area, wherein
at least a portion of the dig area may be excavated or disturbed during
excavation activities, the apparatus comprising: a communication
interface; a display device; a user input device; a memory to store
processor-executable instructions; and a processing unit coupled to the
communication interface, the display device, the user input device, and
the memory, wherein upon execution of the processor-executable
instructions by the processing unit, the processing unit: controls the
display device to display a digital image of a geographic area comprising
the dig area; receives, via the user input device, first user input
relating to a geographic location of at least one physical indication of
the dig area observed by the locate technician during the locate
operation; receives, via the user input device, second user input
relating to a geographic location of the at least one physical locate
mark; generates a marked-up digital image including at least one digital
representation of the at least one physical indication of the dig area
and at least one digital representation of the at least one physical
locate mark; and controls the communication interface and/or the memory
to electronically transmit and/or electronically store information
relating to the marked-up digital image so as to generate the searchable
electronic record of the locate operation.

[0051] Another embodiment is directed to a method for generating a
searchable electronic record of a locate operation performed by a locate
technician, the locate operation comprising identifying, using at least
one physical locate mark, a presence or an absence of at least one
underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the
dig area may be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities, the
method comprising: A) electronically receiving a digital image of a
geographic area comprising the dig area, at least a portion of the
received digital image being displayed on a display device; B) adding to
the displayed digital image (i) at least one digital representation of
the at least one physical locate mark and (ii) an indication of a
distance between a physical landmark and the at least one physical locate
mark so as to generate a marked-up digital image; and C) electronically
transmitting and/or electronically storing information relating to the
marked-up digital image so as to generate the searchable electronic
record of the locate operation.

[0052] Another embodiment is directed to a method for generating a
searchable electronic record of a locate operation performed by a locate
technician, the locate operation comprising identifying, using at least
one physical locate mark, a presence or an absence of at least one
underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the
dig area may be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities, the
method comprising: A) displaying, on a display device, a digital image of
a geographic area comprising the dig area; B) electronically receiving
first information relating to at least one location of the at least one
physical locate mark; C) electronically receiving second information
relating to at least one physical indication of the dig area observed by
the locate technician during the locate operation; D) based at least in
part on the first and second information, digitally representing, on the
displayed digital image, (i) at least one digital representation of the
at least one physical indication of the dig area and (ii) at least one
digital representation of the at least one physical locate mark so as to
generate a marked-up digital image; and E) electronically transmitting
and/or electronically storing information relating to the marked-up
digital image so as to generate the searchable electronic record of the
locate operation.

[0053] Another embodiment is directed to a method for generating a
searchable electronic record of a locate operation performed by a locate
technician, the locate operation comprising identifying, using at least
one physical locate mark, a presence or an absence of at least one
underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the
dig area may be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities, the
method comprising: A) displaying, on a display device, a digital image of
a geographic area comprising the dig area; B) electronically receiving
first information relating to at least one location of the at least one
physical locate mark; C) electronically receiving second information
relating to at least one location of the locate technician during the
locate operation; D) based at least in part on the first and second
information, digitally representing, on the displayed digital image, (i)
at least one digital representation of the at least one physical locate
mark and (ii) at least one digital representation of the at least one
location of the locate technician during the locate operation; and E)
electronically transmitting and/or electronically storing information
relating to the marked-up digital image so as to generate the searchable
electronic record of the locate operation.

[0054] Another embodiment is directed to a method for controlling a user
interface displaying a information relating to a locate operation
performed by a locate technician, the locate operation comprising
identifying, using at least one physical locate mark, a presence or an
absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area, wherein
at least a portion of the dig area may be excavated or disturbed during
excavation activities, the method comprising: A) displaying, on a display
device, a digital image of a geographic area comprising the dig area; B)
based on first user input received via at least one user input device
associated with the display device, adding to the displayed digital
image, at least one digital representation of the at least one physical
locate mark so as to generate a marked-up digital image; C) based on
second user input received via the at least one user input device,
deactivating the at least one digital representation of the at least one
physical locate mark so as to hide the at least one digital
representation on the marked-up digital image; and D) based on third user
input received via the at least one user input device, activating the at
least one digital representation of the at least one physical locate mark
so as to redisplay the at least one digital representation on the
marked-up digital image.

[0055] The following U.S. published applications are hereby incorporated
herein by reference:

[0057] U.S. publication no. 2010-0094553-A1, published Apr. 15, 2010,
filed Dec. 16, 2009, and entitled "Systems and Methods for Using Location
Data and/or Time Data to Electronically Display Dispensing of Markers by
A Marking System or Marking Tool;"

[0060] U.S. publication no. 2010-0090858-A1, published Apr. 15, 2010,
filed Dec. 16, 2009, and entitled "Systems and Methods for Using Marking
Information to Electronically Display Dispensing of Markers by a Marking
System or Marking Tool;"

[0073] U.S. publication no. 2009-0204466-A1, published Aug. 13, 2009,
filed Sep. 4, 2008, and entitled "Ticket Approval System For and Method
of Performing Quality Control In Field Service Applications;"

[0074] U.S. publication no. 2009-0207019-A1, published Aug. 20, 2009,
filed Apr. 30, 2009, and entitled "Ticket Approval System For and Method
of Performing Quality Control In Field Service Applications;"

[0075] U.S. publication no. 2009-0210284-A1, published Aug. 20, 2009,
filed Apr. 30, 2009, and entitled "Ticket Approval System For and Method
of Performing Quality Control In Field Service Applications;"

[0076] U.S. publication no. 2009-0210297-A1, published Aug. 20, 2009,
filed Apr. 30, 2009, and entitled "Ticket Approval System For and Method
of Performing Quality Control In Field Service Applications;"

[0077] U.S. publication no. 2009-0210298-A1, published Aug. 20, 2009,
filed Apr. 30, 2009, and entitled "Ticket Approval System For and Method
of Performing Quality Control In Field Service Applications;"

[0078] U.S. publication no. 2009-0210285-A1, published Aug. 20, 2009,
filed Apr. 30, 2009, and entitled "Ticket Approval System For and Method
of Performing Quality Control In Field Service Applications;"

[0085] U.S. publication no. 2010-0117654 A1, published May 13, 2010, filed
Dec. 30, 2009, and entitled, "Methods and Apparatus for Displaying an
Electronic Rendering of a Locate and/or Marking Operation Using Display
Layers;"

[0086] U.S. publication no. 2010-0086677 A1, published Apr. 8, 2010, filed
Aug. 11, 2009, and entitled, "Methods and Apparatus for Generating an
Electronic Record of a Marking Operation Including Service-Related
Information and Ticket Information;"

[0087] U.S. publication no. 2010-0086671 A1, published Apr. 8, 2010, filed
Nov. 20, 2009, and entitled, "Methods and Apparatus for Generating an
Electronic Record of A Marking Operation Including Service-Related
Information and Ticket Information;"

[0088] U.S. publication no. 2010-0085376 A1, published Apr. 8, 2010, filed
Oct. 28, 2009, and entitled, "Methods and Apparatus for Displaying an
Electronic Rendering of a Marking Operation Based on an Electronic Record
of Marking Information;"

[0103] U.S. publication no. 2010-0262470-A1, published Oct. 14, 2010,
filed Jun. 9, 2010, and entitled "Methods, Apparatus, and Systems For
Analyzing Use of a Marking Device By a Technician To Perform An
Underground Facility Marking Operation;"

[0107] U.S. publication no. 2010-0257029-A1, published Oct. 7, 2010, filed
Jun. 18, 2010, and entitled "Methods, Apparatus, and Systems For
Analyzing Use of a Locate Device By a Technician to Perform an
Underground Facility Locate Operation;"

[0157] U.S. publication no. 2009-0327024-A1, published Dec. 31, 2009,
filed Jun. 26, 2009, and entitled "Methods and Apparatus for Quality
Assessment of a Field Service Operation;"

[0158] U.S. publication no. 2010-0010862-A1, published Jan. 14, 2010,
filed Aug. 7, 2009, and entitled, "Methods and Apparatus for Quality
Assessment of a Field Service Operation Based on Geographic Information;"

[0159] U.S. publication No. 2010-0010863-A1, published Jan. 14, 2010,
filed Aug. 7, 2009, and entitled, "Methods and Apparatus for Quality
Assessment of a Field Service Operation Based on Multiple Scoring
Categories;"

[0160] U.S. publication no. 2010-0010882-A1, published Jan. 14, 2010,
filed Aug. 7, 2009, and entitled, "Methods and Apparatus for Quality
Assessment of a Field Service Operation Based on Dynamic Assessment
Parameters;"

[0161] U.S. publication no. 2010-0010883-A1, published Jan. 14, 2010,
filed Aug. 7, 2009, and entitled, "Methods and Apparatus for Quality
Assessment of a Field Service Operation Based on Multiple Quality
Assessment Criteria;"

[0170] U.S. publication no. 2010-0090700-A1, published Apr. 15, 2010,
filed Oct. 30, 2009, and entitled "Methods and Apparatus for Displaying
an Electronic Rendering of a Locate Operation Based on an Electronic
Record of Locate Information;"

[0173] It should be appreciated that all combinations of the foregoing
concepts and additional concepts discussed in greater detail below
(provided such concepts are not mutually inconsistent) are contemplated
as being part of the inventive subject matter disclosed herein. In
particular, all combinations of claimed subject matter appearing at the
end of this disclosure are contemplated as being part of the inventive
subject matter disclosed herein. It should also be appreciated that
terminology explicitly employed herein that also may appear in any
disclosure incorporated by reference should be accorded a meaning most
consistent with the particular concepts disclosed herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0174] The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead
generally being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention.

[0175] FIG. 1 is a diagram of an exemplary searchable electronic record of
a locate operation, according to one embodiment of the present invention;

[0176]FIG. 2 is a diagram of an exemplary network in which the various
inventive concepts described herein may be implemented, according to one
embodiment of the present invention;

[0177] FIG. 3 is a diagram of exemplary components of the user device of
FIG. 2;

[0178]FIG. 4 is a diagram of exemplary components of the central server
of FIG. 2;

[0179] FIG. 5 is a diagram of exemplary software routines for components
of FIG. 2;

[0180] FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an exemplary process for creating an
electronic manifest of underground facility locate marks, according to
one embodiment of the present invention;

[0181] FIG. 7 is a diagram of an exemplary data set that may be stored in
the memory of FIG. 3 and/or FIG. 4, according to one embodiment of the
present invention;

[0182] FIG. 8 is a diagram of an exemplary user interface that may be
presented via the user device of FIG. 2, according to one embodiment of
the present invention;

[0183] FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating various elements of a searchable
electronic record of a locate operation according to one embodiment of
the present invention;

[0191]FIG. 17 shows an initial screen of an exemplary graphical user
interface for facilitating creation of a searchable electronic record
that may be presented via the user device described in connection with
FIG. 2;

[0192] FIG. 18 shows a screen of the exemplary user interface that
displays an image corresponding to an address;

[0193] FIG. 19 shows a screen of the exemplary user interface wherein the
sketching tab 1708 is active and an acquired input image is displayed;

[0194] FIG. 20 shows a drop down menu of the exemplary user interface that
allows a user to select a type of line to be drawn so as to represent a
type of facility, boundary lines and/or white lines;

[0195]FIG. 21 shows a screen of the exemplary user interface showing a
rendered line when the selected line type is "gas";

[0196] FIG. 22 shows a screen of the exemplary user interface including a
layers legend 2208 displaying the facility types corresponding to the
rendered lines;

[0220] FIG. 43 shows an illustrative process for compensating for
discrepancies between GPS data from a locating and/or marking device and
GPS data associated with a base image for an electronic manifest;

[0221] FIG. 43A shows another illustrative process for compensating for
discrepancies between GPS data from a locating and/or marking device and
GPS data associated with a base image for an electronic manifest in the
context of a screen of the exemplary user interface;

[0222]FIG. 44 shows a screen of the exemplary user interface displaying
an input image with a photograph of an environmental feature overlaid
thereon;

[0223] FIG. 45 shows a screen of the exemplary user interface having an
interface for selectively displaying a digital media file;

[0224] FIG. 46 shows an exemplary facility map that may be overlaid on an
input image; and

[0225]FIG. 47 shows a screen of the exemplary user interface displaying
an input image with the facility map of FIG. 46 overlaid thereon.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0226] Following below are more detailed descriptions of various concepts
related to, and embodiments of, inventive systems, methods and apparatus
for generating searchable electronic records of underground facility
locate and/or marking operations. It should be appreciated that various
concepts introduced above and discussed in greater detail below may be
implemented in any of numerous ways, as the disclosed concepts are not
limited to any particular manner of implementation. Examples of specific
implementations and applications are provided primarily for illustrative
purposes.

[0227] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary searchable electronic
record, or "electronic manifest," of a locate operation, according to one
embodiment of the present invention. When locating underground facilities
at a geographic location, such as at a dig area 100 (which, in the
example of FIG. 1 is associated with a residence or a business), it may
be beneficial to document locate marks in a permanent and reproducible
manner. For example, a locate technician may locate and mark underground
facilities using a locating device and/or a marking device. A locating
device may generally be defined as a locating wand or another device used
to detect the presence (or absence) of underground facilities, while a
marking device may generally be defined as any tool (e.g., a paint wand)
to apply a physical locate mark, such as paint or other material to a
surface. The locate technician may use paint, flags, or some other object
with a particular color or other characteristic to mark the location of
an underground facility. Referring to the example shown in FIG. 1, the
locate technician may use red paint to mark underground power lines 110,
orange paint to mark telecommunications (e.g., telephone and/or cable
television) lines 120, and yellow paint to mark gas lines 130.

[0228] The locate technician may also identify one or more environmental
landmarks that are present at or near the dig area and/or determine the
distance between the environmental landmark(s) and the located
underground facility. For example, a transformer 140 may be indicated as
an environmental landmark, as shown in FIG. 1. The geographic location of
transformer 140 may be used to measure offsets to other locate marks in
the dig area.

[0229] As described herein, documentation of some or all of this
information regarding a locate operation is created as a searchable
electronic record, also referred to herein as "an electronic manifest."
An electronic manifest, as used herein, may generally refer to one or
more computer-readable files that include some or all of the information
in a manifest. The electronic manifest may be created using one or more
input images of a dig area, such as dig area 100, that may be combined
with other information (e.g., non-image information) that is added by the
user (e.g., a locate technician) about the locate operation ("manual"
electronic manifest). In other implementations, an electronic manifest
may be created using one or more input images of a dig area combined with
information about detection and/or marking of one or more underground
facilities that is provided by other sources, e.g., instruments such as
locating devices and/or marking devices that are used to perform the
locate operation may provide data for creation of an electronic manifest.
In some examples of these implementations, data from such instruments,
and/or information derived from one or more locate request tickets, may
be automatically uploaded to facilitate creation of an "automated"
electronic manifest (in which a user/technician need not necessarily
sketch or draw, via an electronic stylus or other electronic drawing
tools, locate mark indicators and/or detection indicators). Other
implementations may use one or more input images of a dig area combined
with information that is added by the user/technician and information
that is provided by other sources (e.g., locate request tickets, locate
instruments) to facilitate creation of a "semi-automated" electronic
manifest. As used herein, a "user" may refer to any person operating a
device to create an electronic manifest, such as a locate technician, a
site supervisor, or any other person or group of people.

[0230] Accordingly, various embodiments of the present invention are
directed to methods, apparatus and systems for creating a searchable
electronic record, or "electronic manifest," relating to a geographic
area including a dig area to be excavated or otherwise disturbed. As part
of the electronic record, the geographic location of one or more physical
locate marks, applied to the dig area during a locate operation (e.g.,
via a marking device) to indicate a presence (or absence) of one or more
located underground facilities, is somehow identified with respect to its
immediate surroundings in the geographic area. In some implementations,
in addition to or alternatively to one or more electronic indications of
physical locate marks applied to the dig area, an electronic manifest may
include one or more electronic indications of where one or more
underground facilities were detected (e.g., by a locate device) during
the locate operation.

[0231] To create such an electronic record, in one exemplary
implementation one or more input images relating to the geographic area
including the dig area may be utilized. For example, source data
representing one or more input images of a geographic area including the
dig area is received and/or processed so that the input image(s) may be
displayed on a display device. The geographic location of the physical
locate mark(s), and/or where one or more facilities were detected, is
then indicated in some manner on the displayed input image(s) so as to
generate one or more marked-up images constituting at least a portion of
the electronic record. For example, geographic locations of the physical
locate mark(s) may be indicated in the marked-up image(s) using digital
representation(s) of the physical locate mark(s) ("locate mark
indicators") that are added to the marked-up image(s). Likewise,
geographic locations of where underground facilities were detected may be
indicated in the marked-up image(s) as "detection indicators." In other
implementations, the input image need not necessarily be displayed to add
one or more locate mark indicators and/or detection indicators; for
example, geographic information relating to one or more physical locate
marks applied to the dig area and/or detected facilities may be received
and locate mark indicator(s) and/or detection indicators may be added to
the input image based on the geographic information, without requiring
display of the input image.

[0232] In some implementations of the inventive concepts disclosed herein,
the searchable electronic record may include a variety of non-image
information to facilitate identification of the dig area and its
immediate surroundings, including the geographic location(s) of the
physical locate mark(s) and/or detected facilities. Examples of such
non-image information include, but are not limited to, a text description
of the geographic location of the dig area, an address or lot number of a
property within which the dig area is located, geo-encoded information
such as geographic coordinates relating to the dig area and/or various
aspects of the geographic area surrounding the dig area, as well as other
non-image information relating generally to the locate operation (e.g., a
timestamp for the locate operation, geographic coordinates for locate
mark indicators and/or detection indicators, one or more identifiers for
a locate technician and/or a locate company performing the locate
operation, information regarding one or more environmental landmarks,
etc.). The marked-up image(s) and the non-image information may be
formatted in a variety of manners in the searchable electronic record;
for example, in one implementation the non-image information may be
included as metadata associated with the marked-up image(s), while in
other implementations the marked-up image(s) and the non-image
information may be formatted as separate data sets. These separate data
sets may be transmitted and/or stored separately. In another aspect,
whether transmitted/stored separately or together, the marked-up image(s)
and the non-image information may be linked together in some manner as
relating to a common electronic record.

[0233] As may be observed from FIG. 1, an input image serving as a
starting point for creating a searchable electronic record according to
various embodiments of the present invention may be displayed (e.g., on a
laptop computer), and the displayed input image provides a view of the
geographic area including dig area 100 (which, in FIG. 1, is essentially
an entire property surrounding a building). For purposes of the present
disclosure, an input image is any image represented by source data that
is electronically processed (e.g., the source data is in a
computer-readable format) to display the image on a display device. An
input image may include any of a variety of paper/tangible image sources
that are scanned (e.g., via an electronic scanner) or otherwise converted
so as to create source data (e.g., in various formats such as XML, PDF,
JPG, BMP, etc.) that can be processed to display the input image. An
input image also may include an image that originates as source data or
an electronic file without necessarily having a corresponding
paper/tangible copy of the image (e.g., an image of a "real-world" scene
acquired by a digital still frame or video camera or other image
acquisition device, in which the source data, at least in part,
represents pixel information from the image acquisition device).

[0234] In some exemplary implementations, input images according to the
present disclosure may be created, provided, and/or processed by a
geographic information system (GIS) that captures, stores, analyzes,
manages and presents data referring to (or linked to) location, such that
the source data representing the input image includes pixel information
from an image acquisition device (corresponding to an acquired "real
world" scene or representation thereof), and/or spatial/geographic
information ("geo-encoded information").

[0235] In view of the foregoing, various examples of input images and
source data representing input images according to the present
disclosure, to which the inventive concepts disclosed herein may be
applied, include but are not limited to: [0236] Manual "free-hand"
paper sketches of the geographic area (which may include one or more
buildings, natural or man-made landmarks, property boundaries,
streets/intersections, public works or facilities such as street
lighting, signage, fire hydrants, mail boxes, parking meters, etc.). FIG.
10 shows an exemplary sketch 1000; [0237] Various maps indicating surface
features and/or extents of geographical areas, such as street/road maps
(e.g., map 1100 of FIG. 11), topographical maps, military maps, parcel
maps, tax maps, town and county planning maps, call-center and/or
facility polygon maps, virtual maps, etc. (such maps may or may not
include geo-encoded information); [0238] Facilities maps illustrating
installed underground facilities, such as gas, power, telephone, cable,
fiber optics, water, sewer, drainage, etc. Facilities maps may also
indicate street-level features (streets, buildings, public facilities,
etc.) in relation to the depicted underground facilities. Examples of
facilities maps include CAD drawings that may be created and viewed with
a GIS to include geo-encoded information (e.g., metadata) that provides
location information (e.g., infrastructure vectors) for represented items
on the facility map. An exemplary facilities map 1200 is shown in FIG.
12; [0239] Architectural, construction and/or engineering drawings and
virtual renditions of a space/geographic area (including "as built" or
post-construction drawings). An exemplary construction/engineering
drawing 1300 is shown in FIG. 13; [0240] Land surveys, i.e., plots
produced at ground level using references to known points such as the
center line of a street to plot the metes and bounds and related location
data regarding a building, parcel, utility, roadway, or other object or
installation. FIG. 14 shows an exemplary land survey map 1400; [0241] A
grid (a pattern of horizontal and vertical lines used as a reference) to
provide representational geographic information (which may be used "as
is" for an input image or as an overlay for an acquired "real world"
scene, drawing, map, etc.). An exemplary grid 1500, overlaid on
construction/engineering drawing 1300, is shown in FIG. 15. It should be
appreciated that the grid 1500 may itself serve as the input image (i.e.,
a "bare" grid), or be used together with another underlying input image;
[0242] "Bare" data representing geo-encoded information (geographical
data points) and not necessarily derived from an acquired/captured
real-world scene (e.g., not pixel information from a digital camera or
other digital image acquisition device). Such "bare" data may be
nonetheless used to construct a displayed input image, and may be in any
of a variety of computer-readable formats, including XML); [0243]
Photographic renderings/images, including street level (see e.g., street
level image 1600 of FIG. 16), topographical, satellite, and aerial
photographic renderings/images, any of which may be updated periodically
to capture changes in a given geographic area over time (e.g., seasonal
changes such as foliage density, which may variably impact the ability to
see some aspects of the image); and [0244] An image, such as any of the
above image types, that includes one or more dig area indicators, or
"virtual white lines," that provide one or more indications of or
graphically delimit a dig area, as described in U.S. publication no.
2009-0238417-A, incorporated by reference herein. The virtual white lines
may include lines, drawing shapes, shades, symbols, coordinates, data
sets, or other indicators that are added to an image, and may assist a
locate technician in the performance of a locate operation by identifying
the area of interest, i.e., the dig area. In this manner, a searchable
electronic record according to the concepts disclosed herein may be
generated based on a previously marked-up input image on which the dig
area is indicated.

[0245] It should also be appreciated that source data representing an
input image may be compiled from multiple data/information sources; for
example, any two or more of the examples provided above for input images
and source data representing input images, or any two or more other data
sources, can provide information that can be combined or integrated to
form source data that is electronically processed to display an image on
a display device.

[0246] As noted above, in some implementations an input image may be
indexed to Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates or another
coordinate system that provides geo-spatial positioning. An input image
may include geo-coding or other geographical identification metadata and
may be provided in any computer-readable format. An input image may also
include images of map symbols, such as roads and street names, that may
be superimposed upon or displayed separately from an underlying
geographic area when the input image is displayed on a display device.

[0247] With reference again to FIG. 1, it may be observed that the dig
area 100 is indicated in the displayed input image by a dig area
indicator 150. As noted above, in one embodiment the input image may have
been received with one or more dig area indicators previously provided so
that the dig area may be readily identified in the displayed input image.
While FIG. 1 illustrates a dig area indicator 150 as an essentially
continuous line delimiting a boundary of the dig area, it should be
appreciated that one or more dig area indicators are not limited in this
respect, and that such indicators may include lines having various colors
and line-types (dashed, dotted, etc.), drawing shapes, shades, symbols,
etc., and need not necessarily delimit an entire boundary of a dig area.
Additionally, as also noted above, it should be appreciated that in some
embodiments an input image need not include any dig area indicators to
provide a foundation for generating a searchable electronic record of a
locate operation.

[0248] In FIG. 1, digital representations of the physical locate marks
applied to a dig area (e.g., corresponding to power lines 110,
telecommunications lines 120 and gas lines 130 shown in FIG. 1), may be
added to the displayed input image to graphically indicate the geographic
locations of the physical locate marks in the dig area 100. In one
embodiment, representations of the physical locate marks, also referred
to as "locate mark indicators," may be added to the displayed input image
through the use of a drawing application or marking tool application,
which may superimpose over or otherwise display one or more locate mark
indicators on the displayed input image. As used herein, "representations
of physical locate marks" or "locate mark indicators" may include lines,
drawing shapes, shades, symbols, coordinates, data sets, or other
indicators to provide one or more indications of the geographic locations
of the physical locate marks on a displayed input image. As discussed
further below, a given locate mark indicator may have an associated
attribute representing a type of underground facility corresponding to
the physical locate mark(s) applied to the dig area. Examples of
different attributes for a locate mark indicator include, but are not
limited to, color, line-type, symbol-type, shape, shade, etc. (e.g., a
first locate mark indicator for a gas line may include a green
dashed-line, a second locate mark indicator for a fiber optic cable may
include a red dotted-line, a third locate mark indicator for an electric
line may include one or more gray diamond shapes arranged along a path
traversed in the input image by the buried electric line, etc.).

[0249] While FIG. 1 and additional figures discussed in turn below
initially illustrate an electronic manifest and generation of same in
connection with representations of physical locate marks corresponding to
the marking portion of a locate operation, as noted above it should be
appreciated that an electronic manifest also or alternatively may include
representations of one or more geographic locations ("detection
indicators") at which one or more underground utilities were detected
during a locate operation (e.g., prior to marking). Many of the concepts
discussed herein in connection with locate mark indicators as part of an
electronic manifest apply similarly for detection indicators employed to
represent and document via an electronic manifest where underground
facilities were detected. Similarly, while the embodiment depicted in
FIG. 1 illustrates a graphic user interface including various elements
relating to a drawing tool application to facilitate creation of a
"manual" electronic manifest in which a user electronically
sketches/draws on an underlying image, other embodiments contemplate
elements that facilitate semi-automated or automated creation of an
electronic manifest.

[0250] In some exemplary embodiments described herein, whether created
manually, or in a semi-automated or automated manner, the marked-up
images having one or more of locate mark indicators, detection
indicators, and dig area indicators, as well as non-image information,
may form part of the searchable electronic record, and information
regarding the searchable electronic record (and in some instances the
record itself) may be electronically transmitted and/or stored to
facilitate verification of the locate operation. In one implementation,
the non-image information may include a series of geographical
coordinates representing the locate mark indicator(s) and/or detection
indicators. These marked-up images and coordinates enable documentation
of where the physical locate marks were made and/or where facilities were
detected, even after the physical locate marks no longer exist. Such
documentation may be important in the event of accidental damage to an
underground facility or another event triggering a dispute concerning
whether the underground facilities were appropriately detected and/or
marked. Further, documentation provided by the searchable electronic
records according to the present disclosure may be helpful for training
locate technicians, assessing the quality of locate operations, and
ensuring that locate operations have actually and/or accurately been
performed without a need to visit the dig site thereafter. An electronic
record comprising the marked-up image may be stored for later retrieval,
and may be searchable. For example, data embedded within or otherwise
associated with the marked-up image may be searchable (e.g., via a search
engine) using key words.

[0251] Exemplary Network

[0252]FIG. 2 is a diagram of an exemplary network 200 in which systems
and methods described herein may be implemented. As shown in FIG. 2, the
network 200 may include a user device 210 connected to a central server
220 and an image server 230 via a network 240. A single user device 210,
central server 220, and image server 230 have been illustrated as
connected to network 240 for simplicity. In practice, there may be more
or fewer user devices and/or servers. For example, in one alternative
implementation, the user device 210 may operate as a comprehensive device
and, thus, the network 200 may include no central server, with user
device 210 communicating directly through network 240 to image server
230. Also, in some instances, the user device 210 may perform one or more
of the functions of the central server 220 and/or central server 220 may
perform one or more of the functions of the user device 210. In still
another implementation, multiple user devices 210 may be connected to the
central server 220 through the network 240.

[0253] The user device 210 may encompass a computer device, such as a
laptop computer, a small personal computer, a tablet device, a personal
digital assistant (PDA), a mobile computing device (e.g., a smart phone),
a touch-screen device, or generally any device including or connecting to
a processor and a display. The user device 210 may be portable so as to
be separately carried by the user performing a locate operation.
Alternatively, the user device 210 may be integrated with or affixed to
another moveable object, such as a vehicle.

[0254] The central server 220 may include a computer device that may store
information received from or provided to the user device 210 and/or the
image server 230. The central server 220 may include storage capacity
and/or optionally include networked access to one or more separate
hardware components, such as images cache 235, to store cached images and
the like.

[0255] The image server 230 may include a computer device that may store
and provide input images of geographic locations The image server 230 may
be associated with the same, or a different, party that maintains the
central server 220. For example, the image server 230 may be associated
with a party that provides input images for a fee.

[0256] The network 240 may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area
network (WAN), a telephone network, such as the Public Switched Telephone
Network (PSTN) or a cellular network, an intranet, the Internet, a
communications link, or a combination of networks. The user device 210,
central server 220, and image server 230 may connect to the network 240
via wired and/or wireless connections. The user device 210 and central
server 220 may communicate using any communication protocol.

[0257] Exemplary User Device Architecture

[0258] FIG. 3 is a diagram of exemplary components of the user device 210.
The user device 210 may include a bus 310, a processing unit 320, a
memory 330, an input device 340, an output device 350 (e.g., a display
device), a location identification unit 360, and a communication
interface 370. In another implementation, the user device 210 may include
more, fewer, or different components. For example, the location
identification unit 360 may not be included, or the location
identification unit 360 may be included as a device located external to
the user device 210, such as a device worn or carried by a user of the
user device 210.

[0259] The bus 310 may include a path that permits communication among the
components of the user device 210. The processing unit 320 may include a
processor, a microprocessor, or processing logic that may interpret and
execute instructions. The memory 330 may include a random access memory
(RAM), a read only memory (ROM), a memory card, a magnetic and/or optical
recording medium and its corresponding drive, or another type of memory
device. Generally, the memory 330 may be sufficient to store and
manipulate input images, such as those stored in a local image cache 335.
In one implementation, the local image cache 335 may include one or more
input images of a dig area to be marked by a user. In another
implementation, the local image cache 335 may include a series of input
images that correspond to the geographical region to which a particular
user is assigned. For example, local image cache 335 may include a
collection of high-resolution images of a particular zip code or town. In
still another implementation, the local image cache 335 may include an
entire set of input images intended to be made available to multiple
users.

[0260] The input device 340 may include one or more mechanisms that permit
a user to input information to the user device 210, such as a keyboard, a
keypad, a touchpad, a mouse, a stylus, a touch screen, a camera, or the
like. Alternatively, or additionally, the input device 340 may include a
microphone that can capture a user's intent by capturing the user's
audible commands. Alternatively, or additionally, the input device 340
may interact with a device that monitors a condition of the user, such as
eye movement, brain activity, or heart rate. The output device 350 may
include a mechanism that outputs information to the user, such as a
display, a speaker, or the like. The condition information may be used to
assess the reliability of the user inputs that are used to generate the
marked-up image or other aspects of the electronic record. For example,
if the monitored heart rate of the user is sufficiently high as to
indicate that the user is under stress, the reliability of the user
inputs may be assessed as poor.

[0261] The location identification unit 360 may include a device that can
determine its geographic location to a certain degree of accuracy, such
as a global positioning system (GPS) or a global navigation satellite
system (GNSS) receiver. In another implementation, the location
identification unit 360 may include a device that determines location
using another technique, such as tower (e.g., cellular tower)
triangularization. The location identification unit 360 may receive
location tracking signals (e.g., GPS signals) and determine its location
based on these signals. In one implementation, location identification
unit 360 may be capable of determining its location within approximately
thirty centimeters or less.

[0262] The communication interface 370 may include any transceiver-like
mechanism that enables user device 210 to communicate with other devices
and/or systems. For example, the communication interface 370 may include
mechanisms for communicating with another device or system via a network.
For example, the communication interface 370 may enable communications
between the user device 210 and the central server 220 and/or image
server 230 over network 240.

[0263] As will be described in detail below, user device 210 may perform
certain operations relating to the documentation of locate operations
and/or the creation of an electronic manifest. User device 210 may
perform these operations in response to the processing unit 320 executing
software instructions (e.g., a user interface application 337) contained
in a computer-readable medium, such as the memory 330. A
computer-readable medium may be defined as a physical or logical memory
device. In some exemplary implementations, elements of the user interface
application 337 may be based, at least in part, on the Map Suite GIS
Software (based on .NET components) available from ThinkGeo LLC of
Frisco, Tex. (http://thinkgeo.com/).

[0264] The software instructions may be read into the memory 330 from
another computer-readable medium, or from another device via the
communication interface 370. The software instructions contained in the
memory 330 may cause processing unit 320 to perform processes that will
be described later. Alternatively, hardwired circuitry may be used in
place of, or in combination with, software instructions to implement
processes described herein. Thus, implementations described herein are
not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and
software.

[0265] Exemplary Central Server Architecture

[0266]FIG. 4 is a diagram of exemplary components of the central server
220. The central server 220 may include a bus 410, a processing unit 420,
a memory 430, and a communication interface 440. In another
implementation, the central server 220 may include more, fewer, or
different components. For example, an input device and/or an output
device (not shown) may be included, as necessary.

[0267] The bus 410 may include a path that permits communication among the
components of the central server 220. The processing unit 420 may include
a processor, a microprocessor, or processing logic that may interpret and
execute instructions. The memory 430 may include a magnetic and/or
optical recording medium and its corresponding drive, a RAM, a ROM, a
memory card, or another type of memory device suitable for high capacity
data storage. Generally, the memory 430 may be sufficient to store input
images of particular geographic locations, such as those stored in a
central image cache 435. In one implementation, the central image cache
435 may include a set of input images that correspond to the geographical
regions to which a group of users are assigned. In still another
implementation, the central image cache 435 may include the entire set of
input images intended to be made available to any of a group of users.
For example, central image cache 435 may include a collection of
high-resolution input images of a particular county, state or other
geographic region. In another implementation, as shown in FIG. 2, central
image cache 435 may be replaced or supplemented with one or more
networked storage components, such as image cache 235.

[0268] The communication interface 440 may include any transceiver-like
mechanism that enables the central server 220 to communicate with other
devices and/or systems. For example, the communication interface 440 may
include mechanisms for communicating with another device or system via a
network. For example, the communication interface 440 may enable
communications between the central server 220 and the user device 210
and/or image server 230 over network 240.

[0269] As will be described in detail below, the central server 220 may
perform certain operations to facilitate the documentation of locate
operations and/or the creation of an electronic manifest. The central
server 220 may perform these operations in response to the processing
unit 420 executing software instructions contained in a computer-readable
medium, such as the memory 430.

[0270] The software instructions may be read into the memory 430 from
another computer-readable medium, or from another device via the
communication interface 440. The software instructions contained in the
memory 430 may cause processing unit 420 to perform processes that will
be described later. Alternatively, hardwired circuitry may be used in
place of or in combination with software instructions to implement
processes described herein. Thus, implementations described herein are
not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and
software.

[0271] Exemplary Routines

[0272] FIG. 5 is a diagram of exemplary software routines for the
components shown in FIG. 2. The central server 220 may include an image
retrieval routine 510 and a central image cache routine 510. The user
device 210 may execute (e.g., via the processing unit 320) a user
interface application 337 (e.g., stored in memory 330) to facilitate
creation of electronic manifests, and in various embodiments such a user
interface application may include one or more of a synchronize routine
530, a local image cache routine 540, an image display routine 550, a
user input routine 560, and a ticket manager routine 570. As discussed in
more detail herein, the examples of routines associated with the central
server 220 and the user device 210 may be interchangeable between each
hardware component. Furthermore, some or all of routines 510, 520, 530,
540, 550, 560, and 570 need not be performed exclusively by any one
hardware component. As noted above, in some exemplary implementations,
elements of the user interface application 337 (e.g., image display
routine 550, user input routine 560) may be based, at least in part, on
the Map Suite GIS Software (based on .NET components) available from
ThinkGeo LLC of Frisco, Tex. (http://thinkgeo.com/).

[0273] Still referring to FIG. 5, the image server 230 may store a library
of input images. Generally, input images such as aerial images may be of
sufficient resolution at an optimal elevation to be useful as a record of
the locate operation. The input images from the image server 230 may
include geocoding or other geographical identification metadata and may
be provided in any computer-readable format, such as JPEG file
interchange format (JPEG), tagged image file format (TIFF), portable
document format (PDF), graphics interchange format (GIF), bitmap (BMP),
portable network graphics (PNG), Windows® metafile (WMF), and/or the
like. Also, input images from the image server 230 may include a
combination of images or overlays, such as overlays of street names,
regions, landmark descriptions, and/or other information about areas
displayed in an image. The input images from the image server 230 may be
supplied by a third-party provider if the coverage area of the
third-party image provider overlaps with the desired area of the user.

[0274] The central image cache routine 510 and the image retrieval routine
520 of the central server 220 may include a variety of functionalities.
In certain implementations, the central image cache routine 510 may
receive information about specific tickets and parse tickets in order to
discern location information. For example, a ticket may identify the dig
area by an address of the property or by geographic coordinates. The
ticket might specify, for example, the address or description of the dig
area to be marked, the day and/or time that the dig area is to be marked,
and/or whether the user is to mark the dig area for telecommunications
(e.g., telephone and/or cable television), power, gas, water, sewer, or
some other underground facility.

[0275] The central image cache routine 510 may also convert dig area
location information to latitude/longitude coordinates or other
coordinates. When location information from a ticket is sufficiently
precise to allow for identification of corresponding imagery, the central
image cache routine 510 may calculate the image extent (which may be
generally defined as the bounding region of the dig area of interest),
and update the ticket with the calculated extent. In one implementation,
the central image cache routine 510 may determine image date,
coordinates, and resolution of each image that may be stored in the
central image cache 435 or in another location. In another
implementation, when location information from a ticket is imprecise (or
"fuzzy"), the central image cache routine 510 may mark the ticket to
indicate that no corresponding image was able to be retrieved based on
the ticket information.

[0276] In another implementation, central image cache 510 may identify an
image to retrieve based on GPS coordinates of a GPS-enabled device
associated with a user. For example, a user may arrive at an excavation
site in a GPS-enabled vehicle and the GPS information from the vehicle
may be used to identify coordinates corresponding to an image to be
retrieved. GPS coordinates may also be obtained from other GPS-enabled
devices being used by or in the vicinity of the user. As used herein a
GPS-enabled device may include any device or combination of devices
capable of interfacing with a global navigation satellite system,
geo-spatial positioning system, or other location-identification system
to determine a location. Examples of GPS-enabled devices may include a
marking device (e.g., a paint wand) with an integrated GPS receiver; a
locating device (e.g., a locating wand) with a GPS receiver; a wearable
GPS-enabled device; a vehicle-mounted GPS system; certain PDAs,
computers, and cellular telephones; and stand-alone GPS-enabled systems.

[0277] In still another implementation, central image cache 510 may
identify one or more images to request based on a designated geographical
area assigned to a user. For example, a user may be assigned to work in
several dig areas associated with a particular section of a neighborhood.
The user may input coordinates associated with the entire selected
section of the neighborhood, and central image cache 510 may then
retrieve images for those coordinates.

[0278] The image retrieval routine 520 catalogues and stores images from
the image server 230 to the central server 220. For example, images may
be stored in the central image cache 435 in the memory 430 of the central
server 220. In one implementation, the image retrieval routine 520 may
query the central image cache 435 or other cache for an image associated
with a particular dig area relating to a ticket of interest, and
determine, based on (for example) the age and resolution of the cached
image, whether the image in the central image cache 435 needs to be
updated from the image server 230.

[0279] In another implementation, the image retrieval routine 520 may
interface with multiple image providers and image servers 230. The image
retrieval routine 520 may determine which image provider is the best
source for the image corresponding to a particular dig area relating to a
ticket of interest based on algorithms that factor, for example, each
image provider's geographical coverage, image resolution, cost, and
availability. Regarding geographical coverage, it will be beneficial to
confirm that the image provider's area of coverage includes the desired
extent (in other words, the entire geographical region of interest to the
user).

[0280] Regarding image resolution, available resolution may be measured in
meters (or centimeters, feet, or inches) per pixel. For example, one
provider may offer thirty centimeters per pixel, while another offers
fifteen centimeters or less per pixel, for the same coverage area. If an
image is requested at a standard altitude, then the image retrieval
routine 520 may choose a pre-defined optimal scale (for example, thirty
centimeters per pixel for a rural area, but fifteen centimeters per pixel
for an urban area) and determine which provider provides images at the
pre-defined optimal scale. Alternatively, if the image of interest is at
a less granular scale (for example, a community or neighborhood image
that allows the locator to pan around the image), then resolution may not
be a significant factor.

[0281] Regarding cost, the image retrieval routine 520 may have access to
pricing information for a variety of image providers. The image retrieval
routine 520 may identify which provider has the lowest cost for the
desired image. Cost analysis may be based on images desired for an
individual ticket or the algorithm may account for a group of image
requests, including volume incentives and/or penalties from each image
provider

[0282] Regarding availability of image providers, the image retrieval
routine 520 may identify what providers are available and/or operational.
Also, if an image provider has a regular latency profile (for example, if
a provider has a particular server that is busiest 3-5 PM Pacific time),
then the image retrieval routine 520 may manage requests to be provided
to another image provider or to a particular server of that image
provider to efficiently load share the image retrieval.

[0283] When an image provider is selected, the image retrieval routine 520
may download the image from the selected image provider's server, which
may be an image server 230. The downloaded image may be stored locally,
for example, in the central image cache 435.

[0284] It should be understood that some of the routines and/or
functionalities described above with respect to the central image cache
routine 510 and the image retrieval routine 520 may be performed by one
or both of the routines 510 and 520 above, and the arrangement of
functionalities are not limited to the implementations disclosed herein.

[0285] The synchronize routine 530 for user device 210 may ensure that
images already stored and manipulated on the user device 210 correspond
to images stored in the central server 220. When a user performing a
locate operation identifies a ticket or dig area, the synchronize routine
530 may check if an image exists in the central server 220 that matches
the extent requested, and if the matching image is up-to-date in, for
example, the local image cache 335. The synchronize routine 530 may also
synchronize images from the central server 220 cache and store copies
locally in the user device 210.

[0286] If the ticket has a valid extent (i.e., a recognizable boundary),
the local image cache routine 540 may associate the ticket information
with an image matching the extent. The local image cache routine 540 may
load the image from the local image cache 335. If the ticket does not
have a valid extent, the local image cache routine 540 may accept address
information that is entered by the user. Alternatively, the local image
cache routine 540 may read the local address information from the ticket
or from a GPS-enabled device in communication with the user device 210 so
that address information may be pre-entered for the user to the extent
possible. Address information may include, for example, a street address,
street name, city, state and/or zip code. If either none or multiple
stored addresses appear to be associated with particular address
information, the local image cache routine 540 may display a list of best
match addresses from which a user can select.

[0287] Once an image is loaded from the local cache 335, image display
routine 550 may provide a variety of view options for the user. For
example, the image display routine 550 may support zooming in and out of
the image by changing the image scale. Also, the image display routine
550 may support panning horizontally and vertically in the image.
Furthermore, the image display routine 550 may support "roaming" outside
the boundaries of the initial extent. Roaming generally occurs when the
user zooms or pans, such that images beyond the boundaries of the stored
images may be required to be retrieved (using, for example, synchronize
routine 530) from either the local image cache 335 or the central server
220. The additional images retrieved from either the local image cache
335 or the central server 220 may be displayed and stitched together to
display a complete image.

[0288] The user input routine 560 allows the user to add information to
the image to create an electronic manifest. The user input routine 560
may accept user input from, for example, input device 340, and may
support the addition of lines, freehand forms (or scribbling), shapes
such as circles and rectangles, shading, or other markings which denote
the approximate location of underground facilities which are present
within the dig area. A drawing shape may generally be any kind of drawing
shape or mark. The user input routine 560 may further enable drawing of
underground facility locate marks for telecommunications (e.g., telephone
and cable television), gas, power, water, sewer, and the like, so that
each type of drawn locate mark is distinguishable from the other(s). The
user input routine 560 may limit the display of such facilities by the
type of work which is to be performed according to the instructions
included within the user's assigned ticket. Accordingly, a given locate
mark indicator, serving as a digital representation of a physical locate
mark applied to the dig area, may have an associated attribute
representing a type of underground facility corresponding to the physical
locate mark. Examples of different attributes for a locate mark indicator
include, but are not limited to, color, line-type, symbol-type, shape,
shade, etc. (e.g., a first locate mark indicator for a gas line may
include a green dashed-line, a second locate mark indicator for a fiber
optic cable may include a red dotted-line, a third locate mark indicator
for an electric line may include one or more gray diamond shapes arranged
along a path traversed in the input image by the buried electric line,
etc.).

[0289] In addition to the marking of the underground facility locate marks
on the input image, user input routine 560 may also include offsets from
environmental landmarks that may be displayed on the image in, for
example, English or metric units. Environmental landmarks may also be
marked and/or highlighted on the input image. The user input routine 560
may also accept positioning information from external sources, such as a
GPS-enabled device. The user input routine 560 may further include
features to annotate the image with text and to revise user inputs by,
for example deleting, dragging or pasting shapes. In one implementation,
when the user zooms the image view in or out, user input (e.g., lines
and/or shapes) that have been added to the original image may adhere to
the changing image scale and remain in the original user-input locations.

[0290] The electronic manifest, which is a compilation of one or more
input images and user inputs, may be saved as an image file. In another
implementation, the user inputs may be saved in a mark-up format,
including the geo-coordinates and underground facility type of each
input.

[0291] In one implementation, the user device 210 may interface with a
ticket management program for coordinating multiple tickets. The ticket
manager routine 570 may facilitate such an interface. The ticket
management program for coordinating multiple tickets may reside on the
central server 220, for example, or on a separate server that is
accessible to the user device 210. Generally, tickets may be stored on a
central server and assigned to a user. When a user edits a ticket, the
user may also have created an electronic manifest associated with the
ticket. The ticket manager routine 570 may allow the user to synchronize
the user's ticket cache with the company's central database and also
synchronize the images and user input. The ticket manager routine 570 may
copy images from the central server 220 to the user device 210 for new
tickets, and will copy the user input from the user device 210 to the
central server 220 for completed tickets. The ticket manager routine 570
may interface with the routines described above to correlate a user's
assigned tickets with images for those tickets and download the images to
the user device from the central server 220. The ticket manager routine
570 may retrieve the corresponding ticket number from the ticket
management program when the user retrieves an image, or the ticket
manager routine 570 may retrieve the image corresponding to an entered
ticket number.

[0292] FIG. 6 provides a flowchart 600 of an exemplary process for
creating an electronic manifest relating to a locate operation and the
application of locate marks to a dig area to indicate a presence (or
absence) of one or more underground facilities. In one implementation, at
least some of the blocks of FIG. 6 may be performed using user device 210
(FIG. 2). In another implementation, one or more of the blocks of FIG. 6
may be manually performed or performed by another device, such as central
server 220.

[0293] The process 600 may begin with a user being dispatched to a dig
area to be located, in response to a locate request ticket being
generated for a locate operation. For example, the user might be given a
ticket that identifies what underground facilities the user needs to
locate at the dig area. The ticket might specify, for example, the
address or description of the dig area to be located, the day and/or time
that the dig area is to be located, and/or whether the user is to locate
the dig area for telecommunications, power, gas, water, sewer, or other
underground facility. Based on information in the ticket, or other
information about the dig area to be located, user device 210 in block
610 may associate the property address with a stored input image of the
dig area. Such association may include associating the address with
geographic location information, such as global positioning coordinates
for the dig area extent (or boundary).

[0294] In one exemplary embodiment, the locate request ticket may be an
electronic locate request ticket that comprises a previously marked-up
image of a geographic area including the dig area, on which one or more
dig area indicators, or "virtual white lines," were placed (e.g., by an
excavator or a one-call center) to provide an indication of the dig area.
In this manner, an electronic locate request ticket received by a locate
company or locate technician may include both image data and non-image
data; for example, a locate request ticket may include a marked-up image
with one or more dig area indicators, as well as associated non-image
information providing additional details of the locate operation to be
performed, as noted above. Further details of locate request tickets
including marked-up images with one or more dig area indicators are given
in U.S. publication no. 2009-0238417-A, which is incorporated by
reference herein.

[0295] In block 620, the stored input image associated with the dig area
to be located is retrieved from a cache of images and loaded into the
user device 210. As previously described and discussed herein with
respect to FIG. 5, the cache of images may reside within the user device
210, the central server 220, a separate image server, or another storage
device. As discussed above, the input image may be represented by a wide
variety of source data that, when processed, facilitates display of the
input image. In one exemplary implementation, the input image for the
searchable electronic record may be a previously marked-up image with one
or more dig area indicators or virtual white lines; in one aspect, such
an input image may be received as part of the locate request ticket
specifying the locate operation. In various implementations, it should be
appreciated that the input image may or may not be displayed, as
discussed further below.

[0296] In block 630, the user may perform a locate operation to locate the
underground facilities present within the dig area and mark the located
underground facilities using a locating device and/or marking device, or
a combined locating/marking device. For example, the user may use the
locating device to identify an underground facility at the dig area, and
may use the marking device to mark the underground facility with the
appropriate marker (e.g., color paint, flag, or some other object). In
certain implementations, locate instruments (e.g., a locate receiver and
a marking device) may be employed that are configured to acquire, store
and transmit various information regarding the approximate geographic
location of one or more detected facilities and/or applied underground
facility locate marks; in particular, the approximate geographic location
of detected facilities and/or underground facility locate marks may be
determined, for example, by identifying the current geographic location
of the GPS-enabled device as the user performs the locating or marking
operation. In another implementation, a user may use a triangularization
technique to determine the approximate geographic location of the
underground facility locate marks. In yet another implementation, a user
may determine latitude and longitude coordinates or some other
measurement of a geographic location.

[0297] If in block 630 the technician employs instrumentation and/or
techniques that provide geographic information (e.g., geographic
coordinates) of detected and/or marked facilities, this information may
be used in some embodiments to facilitate semi-automated or automated
creation of an electronic manifest in which some or all of such
geographic information is overlaid on the input image. It should be
appreciated, however, that some embodiments do not necessarily require
the provision of such geographic information.

[0298] In block 640, information about the approximate geographic location
of detected facilities and/or applied underground facility locate marks
may be added to the input image that was retrieved previously in block
620. To create "manual" electronic manifests, the geographic information
about may be input by the user using an input device, such as input
device 340 (FIG. 3) of user device 210, and added to the displayed input
image as one or more locate mark indicators and/or detection indicators.
In one exemplary implementation in which the input image is a previously
marked-up image having one or more dig area indicators, this image may be
further marked-up to add one or more locate mark indicators and/or
detection indicators that are displayed together with the one or more dig
area indicators. Additional aspects regarding information to be input by
the user are discussed in more detail herein with respect to FIG. 8.

[0299] Still referring to block 640, as noted above geographic information
regarding detected and/or marked facilities may also be received directly
from a GPS-enabled device, such as the GPS-enabled locating device or
marking device used in block 630, and overlaid on the input image. In one
exemplary implementation, one or more locate mark indicators and/or
detection indicators based on this information may be added to the input
image automatically, and in some instances without any requirement to
display the input image. Alternatively, the user may use of a combination
of geographic information received from one or more GPS-enabled locate
instruments, together with some degree of manual entry of information
relating to the locate operation, to create a semi-automated electronic
manifest.

[0300] To appropriately display geographic information obtained from one
or more locate instruments together with an input image, the geo-spatial
reference frame employed for geographic information and the input image
should preferably be the same. Accordingly, in some embodiments, one or
both of the geographic information obtained from one or more locate
instruments, and geographic information in the source data for an input
image may be converted, if necessary, to a common geo-spatial reference
frame to facilitate accurate comparative viewing (overlaying) of locate
mark indicators and/or detection indicators and the input image.
Additional information relating to the processing of geographic
information from locate instruments for use in connection with automated
or semi-automated creation of electronic manifests may be found in U.S.
publication number US2010-0117654-A1, published on May 13, 2010, and
entitled "Methods and Apparatus for Displaying an Electronic Rendering of
a Locate and/or Marking Operation Using Display Layers," which is hereby
incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[0301] In automated or semi-automated embodiments in which geographic
information regarding detected and/or marked facilities is obtained from
one or more locate instruments, such information may be displayed in an
electronic manifest in a static or dynamic manner. For example, in one
aspect, the image portion of an electronic manifest may be static in that
all available information is presented in a display field (e.g., overlaid
on an input image) at one time after collection of the information (e.g.,
completion of the locate and/or marking operation and uploading of
information from the locate instrument(s)); alternatively, the image
portion of the electronic manifest may be dynamic in that information
obtained from a locate instrument may be displayed in essentially
real-time as it is collected, or may be displayed after collection in a
time-sequenced animation that "recreates" the collection of information
(e.g., recreates the locate and/or marking operation) on the time scale
in which it was originally acquired.

[0302] In another aspect of automated or semi-automated embodiments, the
processing unit 320 of the user device 210 (and/or the processing unit
420 of the server 220) may process the geographic information obtained
from one or more locate instruments not only to ensure that such
information is in a same geo-spatial reference frame as the input image,
but further so as to filter, average, interpolate and/or otherwise
"smooth" data (e.g., so as to provide "cleaner" visual renderings and/or
connect successive locate mark indicators and/or detection indicators);
alternatively, "raw data" provided by a given instrument may be utilized
"as is" for the visual representation (including any geo-spatial
reference frame conversion as may be necessary). In yet another aspect of
automated or semi-automated embodiments, visual representations of
multiple locate and/or marking operations for different underground
facilities within the same work site/dig area may be generated in the
same display field of a display device (e.g., output device 350) so as to
provide an electronic manifest including a composite visual
representation, in which different underground facilities may be uniquely
identified in some manner (e.g., by different line types and/or different
colors), and one or more environmental landmarks in and/or around the
work site/dig area may be identified using a variety of displayed
identifiers (e.g., icons, symbols, marks, shapes, etc.).

[0303] With respect to processing of geographic information obtained from
one or more locate instruments so as to generate an automated or
semi-automated electronic manifest, in one embodiment the processing unit
320 (and/or the processing unit 420), together with geo-spatial reference
frame conversion as may be necessary, examines the uploaded geographic
information to determine the geographic extents of the locate mark
indicators, detection indicators, and/or environmental landmarks to be
visually rendered on a display device. In particular, the processing unit
may review the respective latitude and longitude coordinates of the
available geo-location data to determine the maximum extents of the
locate operation to be visually rendered. The maximum extents of the
marking operation may be determined in any of a variety of manners
according to different exemplary implementations. Alternatively, for
essentially real-time display of geographic information as acquired by
one or more locate instruments, a default extents area may be selected in
advance based on any of a variety of criteria.

[0304] In another aspect, the extents area of the locate operation to be
visually rendered is then mapped to an available display field of a
display device, using any appropriate scaling factor as necessary, to
ensure that all of the geo-location data acquired from one or more locate
instruments fits within the display field. For example, in one exemplary
implementation, a transformation may be derived using information
relating to the available display field (e.g., a reference coordinate
system using an appropriate scale for a given display field of a display
device) to map data points within the extents area to the available
display field. In another aspect of this example, a buffer area around
the extents area may be added to provide one or more suitable margins for
the displayed visual representation, and/or to accommodate different
shapes of extents areas to the available display field of the display
device, and an appropriate transformation may be derived based on this
optional additional buffer area.

[0305] Once a transformation is derived to map the locate operation
extents area to the available display field of a display device, one or
more locate mark indicators, display indicators and/or landmark
indicators (e.g., icons, symbols, marks, shapes, etc.) is/are rendered in
the display field (e.g., overlaid on the input image) based on applying
the transformation to the geo-location data uploaded from the locate
instrument(s).

[0306] In block 645, as an optional step, information about offsets of the
underground facility locate marks from environmental landmarks may be
added to the input image. As with the input of the facility locations in
block 640, the location of the environmental landmarks may be input by
the user using an input device, such as input device 340 (FIG. 3) of user
device 210, or automatically input from a GPS-enabled device. The offset
information may be automatically calculated or input by the user. Offset
information may also be obtained by identifying selected environmental
landmarks on the retrieved image and automatically calculating the
distance from the selected environmental landmarks to the underground
facility locate marks overlaid on the image.

[0307] In block 650, as an optional step, information about the location
of the underground facility locate marks (e.g., the locate mark
indicators added to the input image) and/or detection indicators, if
manually added to the manifest via the user device 210, may be converted
to GPS coordinates. In block 660, the marked-up input image and other
information (e.g., non-image information) about the location operation
may be stored in memory as a searchable electronic record or "electronic
manifest," which may be formatted as a single combined image (e.g., image
data and non-image metadata) or as separate image data and non-image data
that are linked. In exemplary implementations, the electronic manifest
may be stored as, for example, a digital image or an interactive
electronic map. Additionally or alternatively, in block 670, the
geographical coordinates of the underground facility locate marks and/or
detected facilities may be stored in memory, such as memory 330 (FIG. 3),
as one or more separate data sets. The data set(s) may be compiled as,
for example, a database of GPS coordinates. In block 680, the combined
image and/or separate data set(s) may optionally be transmitted to a
central location, such as central server 220 (FIG. 2).

[0308] Thus, the marked-up image(s) and the non-image information may be
formatted in a variety of manners in the searchable electronic record;
for example, in one implementation the non-image information may be
included as metadata associated with the marked-up image(s), while in
other implementations the marked-up image(s) and the non-image
information may be formatted as separate data sets. These separate data
sets may be transmitted and/or stored separately. In another aspect,
whether transmitted/stored separately or together, the marked-up image(s)
and the non-image information may be linked together in some manner as
relating to a common electronic record.

[0309] In some locate operations, no underground facilities are determined
to be present in a designated dig area. Such locate operations are
sometimes referred to as "clears." In some implementations of the
inventive concepts discussed herein, an input image may nonetheless be
employed to provide an electronic record of a "clear;" more specifically,
although no locate mark indicators may be added to an input image (i.e.,
the step 640 may not be necessary because there are no physical locate
marks to digitally represent), other non-image information associated
with the "clear" locate operation (e.g., a timestamp of when the locate
operation was performed, an identifier for a technician or locate company
performing the locate operation, a text address or other geographical
identifier for the dig area, a location stamp, etc.) may be associated
with the input image (e.g., as a separate data set linked to the input
image, as metadata, a combined file of image and non-image data, etc.) to
create a searchable electronic record that may be consulted to verify
that the locate operation was indeed completed, even though no
underground facilities were found.

[0310] FIG. 7 is a diagram of an exemplary data set that may be stored in
memory 330 and/or transmitted to server 220. As shown in FIG. 7, a data
set 700 may include a timestamp field 710, an underground facility
identifier field 720, an underground facility location field 730, an
environmental landmark identifier field 740, an environmental landmark
location field 750, an other information field 760, a facility
owner/operator field 765, a marking method field 770, a property address
field 780, a ticket number field 790, a location stamp field 715, and a
certification field 725. In another implementation, the data set 700 may
include additional, fewer, or different fields.

[0311] Timestamp field 710 may include time data that identifies the day
and/or time that a locate operation was performed. This may coincide with
a time at which an environmental landmark location was identified in
connection with the dig area. The time data in timestamp field 710 is
shown in FIG. 7 as 9:43 a.m. on Oct. 20, 2005--although any type of date
and/or time code may be used. The information in timestamp field 710 may
be useful in establishing when a locate operation occurred.

[0312] The underground facility identifier field 720 may include an
identifier that uniquely identifies the type of underground facility that
was marked. The identifier in underground facility identifier field 720
is shown in FIG. 7 as "power"--although any type of identifier may be
used. Underground facility location field 730 may include geographic
location information corresponding to an underground facility locate
mark. In one implementation, the geographic location information may
include a set of geographic points along the marking path of the located
underground facility. The geographic location information in underground
facility location field 730 is shown in FIG. 7 as N38° 51.40748,
W077° 20.27798; . . . ; N38° 51.40784, W077°
20.27865--although any type of geographic location information may be
used. The information in underground facility location field 730 may be
useful in graphically presenting the underground facility locate marks on
a map, and/or to verify that the locate operation was actually and
accurately performed. Additionally, or alternatively, underground
facility location field 730 may include geographic location information
for multiple underground facility locate marks.

[0313] Environmental landmark identifier field 740 may include an
identifier that uniquely identifies the type of environmental landmark
being marked. The identifier in environmental landmark identifier field
740 is shown in FIG. 7 as "curb"--although any type of identifier may be
used.

[0315] Other information field 760 may store other data that may be
useful, including user notes, such as offset or distance information that
identifies a distance between one or more environmental landmarks and one
or more underground facility locate marks. Other information field 760 is
shown in FIG. 7 as including "1.2 meters between curb and power
line"--although any other data may be used. Additionally and/or
alternatively, other information field 760 may include audio/voice data,
transcribed voice-recognition data, or the like to incorporate user
notes.

[0316] The underground facility owner field 765 may include the name of
the owner/operator of the underground facility that has been marked
during the locate operation. For example, in FIG. 7, the underground
facility owner field 765 is shown as "ABC Corp." Because multiple
underground facilities may be marked during a single locate operation, it
may be beneficial to associate each marked underground facility with a
particular owner/operator. Alternatively, this field may include one or
more identifiers for the locate company performing the locate operation,
or an additional field may be added to the data set 700 for this purpose.

[0317] Marking method field 770 may indicate the type of marking used at
the dig area to indicate the location of an underground facility. For
example, in FIG. 7, marking method field 770 is shown indicating red
paint. Property address field 780 may be the property address associated
with the marking recorded in the data set 700. The property address field
780 may include, for example, the street address and zip code of the
property. Other information in field 780 may include city, state, and/or
county identifiers. The ticket number field 790 may include the ticket
number associated with the locate operation, such as ticket "1234567"
shown in FIG. 7.

[0318] Location stamp field 715 may include a location stamp indicating a
location where the locate operation was performed (e.g., the dig area).
The location stamp may optionally be generated at the same time as
timestamp 710, and the information underlying these stamps may be from a
same source or otherwise correlated, such that the location stamp
reflects the location of the locate technician, user device, or
associated locate and/or marking device when the timestamp 710 is
generated. The location stamp may comprise, for example, location
coordinates (as shown in FIG. 7), a city name or designation, a state
name or designation, a county name or designation, and/or an address.
Generally, the location stamp identifies the presence and location of a
locate technician in connection with the locate operation.

[0319] According to one exemplary implementation, location stamp data is
generated by the user device (e.g., by location identification unit 360)
in response to an action associated with a locate operation (e.g., a
marking being made on the electronic manifest, creation of a new
electronic manifest, completion or certification of an electronic
manifest). According to another exemplary implementation, location stamp
data is generated by a GPS-enabled device associated with a locate
technician dispatched to perform a locate operation (e.g., a GPS-enabled
device in the vehicle and/or on the person of the locate technician), a
GPS-enabled locate and/or marking device operated by the technician
during the locate operation, or another locate and/or marking device
capable of determining its own location. The location stamp data may then
be transmitted from the GPS-enabled device or locate and/or marking
device to the user device alone or in association with other data (e.g.
marking data or locate data). The transmission may occur, for example, in
response to a request by the user device, a request by the user, or some
triggering action. The location stamp data may be recorded to the data
set automatically (e.g., without user intervention) or in response to
user input.

[0320] It should be appreciated that both the timestamp field 710 and
location stamp field 715 may optionally include a plurality of timestamps
and location stamps. For example, each of a plurality of actions (e.g.,
markings on the electronic manifest, actuations of the locate and/or
marking device) may be associated with a particular time stamp and/or
location stamp recorded in fields 710 and 715 so that the time and
location of various actions associated with the locate operation can
subsequently be determined. The actions may cause the time stamp and/or
location stamp to automatically be logged. Further, the timestamp field
710 and/or location stamp field 715 may optionally be "read only" fields.
Prohibiting changes to these fields (e.g., by the locate technician) may
preserve the integrity of the data therein so that it can be reliably
used for verification of the locate operation.

[0321] Certification field 725 may comprise a certification of the data in
data set 700, e.g., by the locate technician and/or another reviewer,
such as a supervisor or other authorized representative of the locate
company. Such a certification may comprise a signature, initials, an
electronic stamp, or some other indication that the information in the
data set 700 is "certified" (e.g., has been reviewed and/or is
correct/approved).

[0322] In one implementation, the user device 210 may store multiple data
sets corresponding to multiple underground facilities identified at a
particular dig area. User device 210 may provide the data sets to server
220 in a batch--such as a batch corresponding to the group of underground
facilities documented within the electronic manifest--or individually.
The batch may be grouped together with other information generally
relating to the locate operation, such as the name of the company
responsible for performing the locate operation, the name of the locate
technician, and the like. Additionally, or alternatively, the other
information generally relating to the locate operation may be included in
each data set.

[0323] FIG. 8 an exemplary diagram of a user interface 800 that may be
presented via the user device 210. The user interface may be presented on
a screen 800 that may be the screen of the user device 210, as described
herein with respect to FIG. 2. The screen 800 may display a variety of
graphical elements, including but not limited to: a map control 810, an
address search panel 820, a locator palette 830, a navigation palette
840, a status bar 850, a menu bar 860, a service grid 870, a scale bar
880, and the input image of the geographic area including the dig area.
As discussed above, the displayed input image may include one or more dig
area indicators or virtual white lines 890 to identify the dig area in
the displayed image.

[0324] Map control 810 generally may be the surface, or canvas, where
images--such as an exemplary image 802--are displayed. The user may draw
or input shapes "on top of" this surface using for example, the input
device 340 of FIG. 3 to identify underground facility locate mark
locations. FIG. 8 shows a stylus 804 as an exemplary form of input device
340.

[0325] The address search panel 820 may be used to identify images
corresponding to a desired address. Panel 820 may, for example, accept a
partial or complete address and allow the user to search for matches. If
an excessive number of addresses match the search, then the size of the
result set may be constrained. Address search results may be displayed
which match the address search. The listed matches may serve as a
springboard for displaying the image desired by the user. For example,
when the user taps with a stylus 804 on an address match, the user device
210 may load the image corresponding to the selected address. As
described above, this image may be stored locally on user device 210 or
retrieved from central server 220.

[0326] Palettes may be generally defined as a toolbar or toolbars
containing soft buttons or other controls that are grouped in some
logical order. The buttons on a palette may duplicate the commands
available on the menu bar 860. The locator palette 830 may allow the user
to select the type of underground facility locate marks (e.g., electric,
gas, water, sewer, telecommunications, etc.) the user will draw on the
image 802. The locator palette 830 may also include a choice of various
shapes or shades, such as freestyle, line, circle, rectangle, or other
polygon that the user may select to draw on the image 802. In one
implementation, the locator palette 830 may present a list of potential
environmental landmark identifiers. In this case, the user may select an
environmental landmark identifier from the list to overlay at the
appropriate place on the input image 802.

[0327] The locator palette 830 may also include an offset tool that allows
the user to mark the distance between, for example, an environmental
landmark identifier and a drawn underground facility locate mark. Once
the user has chosen the type of shape they wish to draw (freestyle, line,
polygon, shading etc.) the application may track the user's movements to
define the layout and location of the shape. The shape may be completed
when the user terminates the drawing (for example, by lifting the stylus
804 or releasing the mouse button). A text label or other indicator may
be added to the shape automatically based on the type of underground
facility locate mark or environmental landmark selected (e.g., "electric"
or "curb") or may be manually added.

[0328] The navigation palette 840 may allow the user to zoom or pan the
image 802. For example, the navigation palette 840 may include selections
to zoom in, zoom out, or zoom to a selected section of the image. The
navigation palette 840 may also include pan command buttons to pan left,
pan right, pan up or pan down. Other selections that may be available on
the navigation palette include buttons to alter the transparency of
either the image 802 or the underground facility locate marks.

[0329] The status bar 850 may display information about the map control,
such as the coordinates of the subject area, the coordinates of a cursor
or stylus in relation to the image 802, and the image scale. The menu bar
860 may include an operating system element that allows a user to access
commands, such as exiting the application, selecting what palettes or
panels to display, or accessing online help.

[0330] The service grid 870 is shown as an exemplary "floating" window to
show how the user interface for the screen 800 may operate in a typical
operating system environment. The service grid 870 or any of the other
graphical elements described in relation to screen 800 may be in a fixed
or floating orientation. As underground facility locate marks are drawn
on the map control 810, they may appear in a list in the service grid
870. Thus, the user may edit the properties of an underground facility
shape using the service grid 870, as well as by selecting the shape in
the map control 810. The service grid may include properties, such as the
type, length, circumference, and material of the marked underground
facility.

[0331] FIG. 9 shows an exemplary searchable electronic record or
electronic manifest 900 that may be generated according to methods and
apparatus described herein. The electronic manifest comprises image data
or information including a marked-up image 905. In the example of FIG. 9,
the marked-up image 905 includes digital representations 910 (locate mark
indicators) of physical locate marks, offset indicia 915, and virtual
white lines 920 (dig area indicators). In addition, the electronic
manifest 900 comprises non-image information relating to the locate
operation, derived from one or more of the fields of the exemplary data
set 700 illustrated in FIG. 7. In the example of FIG. 9, the displayed
elements of such a data set constituting non-image information include
(but are not limited to) a ticket number 925 for the locate operation
(from the ticket number field 790), an identifier 930 of the locate
technician (e.g., from the field 765 or another similar field, which may
indicate facility owner/operator, or locate company/technician), a time
and date stamp 935 indicating when the electronic manifest was created
(from the timestamp filed 710), a location stamp 940 indicating where the
electronic manifest was created (from the location stamp field 715), a
completed checklist 945 of markings used in the locate operation (from
the marking method field 770), and a locate technician signature 950
certifying that the information of the electronic manifest is correct
(from the certification field 725). The marked-up image and additional
information relating to the locate operation may be stored as a single
file (e.g., a combined image or image and text file), in associated
files, or separately. It should be appreciated that the electronic
manifest 900 shown FIG. 9 is merely exemplary, and that an electronic
manifest as described herein may alternatively include other combinations
of the information described herein and may be formatted in different
manners.

[0332] An electronic manifest of underground facility locate marks may
serve several purposes. For example, the electronic manifest may provide
significant improvements in accuracy and save time for the locate
technician. Manual sketching is time consuming and imprecise. For
example, with manual sketching, the general geographic features of the
dig area location, i.e. roads, sidewalks, landscaping, buildings, and
other landmarks, must be reproduced by the locate technician. Creation of
an electronic manifest that includes drafting on retrieved input images
may improve accuracy and eliminate drafting of these general geographic
features.

[0333] Additionally, or alternatively, an electronic manifest of
underground facility locate marks may provide a variety of data formats
from a single user event. For example, electronic drafting creates data
about the electronic manifest which can be reviewed without viewing the
image. The type of marked underground facilities can be determined based
upon the existence of different colors, different line types (e.g.,
solid, dotted or dashed), or other coding schema. Length of marks for
each underground facility can be approximated, and the existence and
length of offsets detected. If available, the location of the marks can
be cross-checked to the user's description or depiction of the area to be
marked or excavated.

[0334] Additionally, or alternatively, an electronic manifest of
underground facility locate marks may provide for easier dissemination
and record-keeping. Electronic manifests can be associated with
individual tickets and recalled electronically, avoiding the
uncertainties and errors associated with manual filing systems.
Furthermore, electronic manifests can be interrogated to ensure that the
information recorded on the electronic manifest accurately comports with
billing data or other information regarding the locate operation(s)
performed.

[0335] Additionally, or alternatively, information from the electronic
manifest regarding the distance between environmental landmarks and
located underground facility locate marks may be used to verify
subsequent locate operations or the accuracy of the electronic manifest.
For example, if the information identifies an underground facility as
running parallel to the curb at a distance of three meters, that
information may be used to assess the accuracy or consistency of a
subsequent locate operation at the same dig area or, upon inspection, the
accuracy of the electronic manifest.

[0336] Additionally, or alternatively, information from the electronic
manifest regarding the number and types of underground facilities may be
used to estimate the scope of a subsequent locate operation to be
performed at a dig area. For example, a large number of underground
facilities may be indicative of an extensive (i.e., time-consuming)
locate operation.

[0337] Additionally, or alternatively, information from the electronic
manifest may be used by a quality control supervisor and/or damage
inspector to verify the accuracy of the underground facility locate
marks. For example, if the user who performed a locate operation
indicated that an underground facility runs parallel to a driveway at a
distance of two meters, then the quality control supervisor or damage
inspector may use this information to verify whether the marks properly
reflected the actual location of the underground facilities present
within the dig area. Also information from the electronic manifest may be
used to train a user and/or to perform quality control relating to a
user's work. The electronic manifest can be modified, e.g., after
retrieval from the memory of a central server or the user device itself,
to include indication of that the manifest has been reviewed and/or
approved (e.g., by quality control supervisor). Such an indication may
comprise, for example, the signature of the reviewer.

[0338] Since it is possible for a locate technician to create a manifest
without ever visiting the dig area, it may be desirable to verify that a
locate operation was actually performed in the dig area, as discussed
herein. According to one exemplary implementation, this may be
accomplished by verifying that location information logged by a user
device comports with a location where the locate operation was to be
performed (e.g., the dig area) and/or that time information logged by a
user device comports with a time frame for performing the locate
operation (e.g., within 48 hours of the ticket being issued). The time
and/or location information may be generated by the user device and
automatically logged to the electronic manifest. Alternatively, the time
and/or location information may be generated by the locate and/or marking
device, transmitted to the user device, and automatically logged to the
electronic manifest. The time information may comprise, for example, a
time stamp generated by a clock internal to the user device or the locate
and/or marking device. Such a time stamp may comprise a date and/or time
indicative of when the locate operation was performed. The location
information may comprise, for example, GPS coordinates or GPS-derived
data such as a city, state, county, and/or address indicative of where
the locate operation was performed. The time and/or location information
may be stored and/or transmitted as part of the marked-up image or
associated data (e.g., data set 700).

[0339] Data or non-image information associated with performing the locate
operation and/or creating the electronic manifest, such as time spent
performing certain actions or actuations of an input or marking device,
can optionally be tracked and stored by the user device. Exemplary data
that may be stored includes: a start time and/or date of the locate
operation; a start time and/or date of the electronic manifest and/or
associated sketch or drawing; an end time and/or date of the locate
operation; an end time and/or date of the electronic manifest and/or
associated sketch or drawing; a total time for marking each utility
(e.g., electric, gas, cable, phone, water, recreational water, and
sewer); an activity count (e.g., actuations of a marking device)
associated with marking each utility; a total time or activity count for
other actions (e.g., marking the property line, tie-down, sketching,
drawing, selecting, dragging, resizing, or performing an undo, clear or
zoom); time and data associated with menu clicks, line clicks, and point
clicks; image request information and information identifying the
requested image; data associated with drawing lines (e.g., utility type,
begin location, end location, width, and characteristic (e.g., dashed or
solid)); data associated with drawing points (e.g., utility type,
location, width, characteristic (e.g., symbol type)); data associated
with text boxes (e.g., location, characteristic (e.g., color), and text);
drawing data (e.g., start and end time, ticket number, user name and/or
identification, and IP address); and location data (e.g., image centroid,
ticket location, start location, and end location).

[0340] The data described above that may be tracked and stored by the user
device can be used, for example, to determine the cost of a locate
operation, verify the performance of a locate operation, determine the
location of physical locate marks, assess the efficiency or skill of a
locate technician, and/or train the locate technician. Such assessments
and determinations may be performed automatically using software
associated with the user device or a computer that receives data from the
user device. The software may have an interface that allows the
parameters used in the assessment or determination to be customized. For
example, an interface may be provided to allow a user to select which and
how items of data will be used to assess the efficiency or skill of a
locate technician. In this manner, a user may specify that a time lapse
between the start and end times of creation of a sketch or drawing
associated with an electronic manifest will be used to assess the
efficiency or skill of a locate technician.

[0341] It should be appreciated that the user device described herein is
merely exemplary and that other implementations of user device are
possible. For example, the user device and/or certain components thereof
may be integrated within a locate and/or marking device. In this case,
the user device may share a display with that of the locate and/or
marking device and process and store data within the locate and/or
marking device.

[0342] Exemplary User Interface

[0343] One example of a user interface that may be presented via the user
device 210 of FIG. 2 was described in connection with FIG. 8. Aspects of
another exemplary user interface that may be presented via the user
device 210 will be described in connection with FIGS. 17-47. The user
interface, which comprises screen views rendered by a user interface
application 337 running on the user device 210, may be used to facilitate
creation of an electronic record of a locate operation as described
herein. As noted above, in some embodiments a user (e.g., a locate
technician) may use the user interface to electronically mark, on an
input image or grid, digital representations of physical locate marks
created during a locate operation and/or electronic detection indicators
representing geographic locations of where one or more utilities were
detected during the locate operation ("manual" electronic manifests). In
other embodiments, geographic information regarding detection and/or
marking of underground facilities may be uploaded to the user device 210
(e.g., from locate instruments and/or locate request tickets) to
facilitate semi-automated or automated creation of an electronic
manifest.

[0344] Information relating to the digital representations and/or the
underlying input image or grid may be stored as part of an electronic
record by the user interface application. Other information, such as a
time and location at which the digital representations were created and a
signature of the locate technician, may also be stored as part of the
electronic record.

[0345]FIG. 17 shows an initial screen 1700 of the exemplary user
interface. The initial screen 1700 includes a save/exit icon 1702 and a
grid pad icon 1704. The save/exit icon 1702 may be selected to save an
electronic record at any point during its creation and/or to exit the
user interface application. Creation of the electronic record, which may
involve rendering digital representations of a locate and/or marking
operation on an underlying input image, will be described below in
connection with other screens of the exemplary user interface. If the
digital representations are created on an underlying input image, the
input image may also be saved. As will be described in connection with
other user interface screens, an underlying image is not required for the
creation of digital representations. For example, the grid pad icon 1704
may be selected to generate a bare grid on which digital representations
of physical locate marks may be created.

[0346] The initial screen 1700 also comprises a roaming tab 1706, a
sketching tab 1708, and a ticket details tab 1710. Accessing the ticket
details tab 1710 will display a window including information from the
current ticket. According to one example, the information from the
current ticket may comprise raw ticket information provided to or from a
"one call center" or other utility notification center. Such ticket
information may comprise details relating to a locate operation to be
performed, such as the address and/or geographic coordinates of the dig
area, a link to a map or other graphic of the dig area, the type of work
being performed by excavators at the dig area (e.g., gas leak repair),
the scheduled excavation date(s), and the extent of the dig area. These
details may be used by a locate technician creating a marked-up digital
image to, for example, identify an input image of the dig area or
determine appropriate markings to be made thereon.

[0347] The roaming tab 1706 is associated with a window comprising fields
that may be used to specify geographic location information corresponding
to an input image to be acquired. The geographic location information may
be manually input by a user, automatically derived from current ticket
information and/or automatically acquired from a GPS device. For example,
an address search area 1712 comprises input fields 1714 (e.g., street,
city, state and zip code) in which a user may input address information
and a match window 1716 in which the application may display matching
addresses. A location search area 1718 comprises input fields 1720 that
may be populated with latitude and longitude coordinates derived from the
current ticket information, as provided under ticket details tab 1710.
For example, the ticket manager routine 570 described in connection with
FIG. 5 may parse the current ticket and pass an XML file including
latitude and longitude coordinates of the dig area to the user interface
application. The user interface application may populate the location
search area 1718 using the received latitude and longitude coordinates.
The location search area 1718 may also be modified by a user so that the
user can change the pre-populated coordinates. A GPS details area 1722
comprises fields 1724 that may be populated with latitude and longitude
coordinates acquired from a GPS device, such as a GPS device integrated
within, connected to, or otherwise associated with a user input device.
The GPS device may be a device having access to a global navigation
satellite system (GNSS) receiver (e.g., a global positioning system (GPS)
receiver). If a computer on which the user interface application is
running has access to a GNSS receiver, the latitude and longitude
coordinates of the computer may be automatically input into the fields
1724. The application may be configured to automatically detect
connectivity to a GNSS server.

[0348] The screen 1800 of FIG. 18 shows the result of selecting a matching
address from match window 1716 based on address information entered into
input fields 1714. In particular, the screen 1800 displays an image 1802
corresponding to the selected address. The map tools 1804 provided
adjacent the image allow the image 1802 to be manipulated to create a
desired input image. For example, the map tools 1804 comprise zoom and
pan tools to allow the scope and center of an image to change. Once any
desired manipulations have been performed, the user may select the "get
image" icon, which causes the image to be displayed in a window
associated with the sketching tab 1708, as shown in FIG. 19. The
displayed image may be a high resolution image including the area of the
selected address. If a high resolution image is not available, however,
the user interface application may automatically retrieve a lower
resolution image (e.g., a satellite image) or some other alternate
default image.

[0349] FIG. 19 shows a screen 1900 wherein the sketching tab 1708 is
active and an acquired input image 1902 is displayed. Selection of the
sketching tab 1708 causes icons 1904-1928, which relate to the creation
of digital representations of physical locate marks and related
information, to be displayed. To create a digital representation of a
first facility type, the line type icon 1920 may be selected. The
selection of the line type icon 1920 causes a drop down menu 2000 to be
displayed, as shown in FIG. 20. The drop down menu 2000 allows a user to
select a type of line corresponding to the first facility type. The drop
down menu 2000 includes line types corresponding to cable, gas, phone,
water, reclaimed water, electric, and sewer facility types. In addition,
drop down menu 2000 includes line types corresponding to non-facilities.
These line types include boundary lines and "white lines."

[0350] Each line type may correspond to a particular physical
representation of a line (e.g., line color, width, and style). According
to some exemplary implementations, the physical representation of a line
may convey not only line type (e.g., gas line, white line), but also
marking material type (e.g., paint, flags). For example, line color
(e.g., yellow or red) may correspond to line type, while line style
(e.g., dotted or dashed) may correspond to a marking material type. In
other implementations, a physical representation of a line may convey
other information concerning a dig area, such as the presence of multiple
underground facilities at the same or approximately the same location (as
is the case when multiple underground facilities share a common trench).
For example, multiple differently-colored lines located in parallel in
close proximity to each other (essentially co-located lines separated
just enough so that respective different colors are discernible) may
indicate that multiple underground facilities were marked at the location
of the co-located lines, and the particular underground facilities marked
at that location may be indicated by the different line colors. For
example, a joint trench including electric and water facilities may be
indicated by parallel contiguous red and blue lines. As may be
appreciated from the foregoing, the physical representations of lines may
convey information concerning facilities, marking material, and other
aspects of a dig area, and the physical representation of each line may
be selected or modified accordingly.

[0351] In the example of FIG. 20, gas has been selected as a line type
corresponding to the first facility type. With gas selected as the line
type using the line type icon 1920, the user may select the paint icon
1910 to activate a line tool. A user may render a straight line by
selecting the line icon 1914 or a freeform line by selecting the pencil
icon 1916. The line tool will render a line having the properties
ascribed to the selected line type. As shown on the screen 2100 of FIG.
21, when the selected line type is "gas," the rendered line 2102 may be
yellow and automatically identified with the label "gas." The rendered
line 2102 may be selected using the select icon 1904, moved using the
move icon 1906, and/or resized using the resize icon 1908. The width of a
line to be rendered may be selected from a drop down menu activated by
selection of the width icon 1912. To revert to an earlier version of a
digital representation, the undo icon 1926 may be selected. To entirely
clear the input image of digital representations, the clear icon 1928 may
be selected.

[0352] In exemplary embodiments of a user interface to facilitate creation
and manipulation of electronic manifests, various information relevant to
the electronic manifest may be categorized based on a variety of criteria
and displayed as separate "layers" of a visual rendering of the
electronic manifest (e.g., display layers of the image-based portion of
the manifest), such that a viewer of the visual rendering may turn on and
turn off displayed information based on a categorization of the displayed
information. Examples of information categories that may be associated
with corresponding display layers include, but are not limited to,
"marking information" (e.g., information relating to applied locate marks
and/or locate mark indicators representing same), "locate information"
(e.g., information relating to detected underground facilities, and/or
detection indicators representing same), "landmark information" (e.g.,
information relating to one or more landmarks in or near the dig area
and/or appearing in one or more images used in connection with an
electronic manifest, and various symbols representing same), "image
information" (e.g., information relating to one or more images used in
connection with an electronic manifest), "labeling information" (e.g.,
information relating to labeling, annotations, notes, text boxes, etc.
used in connection with an electronic manifest), "white line information"
(e.g., information relating to one or more dig area indicators used in
connection with an electronic manifest), and "revision information"
(e.g., information relating to modifications to one or more elements
constituting an electronic manifest).

[0353] In examples described below, information in different categories
may be independently enabled or disabled for display as corresponding
display layers. Respective layers may be enabled or disabled for display
in any of a variety of manners; for example, in one implementation, a
"layer directory" or "layer legend" pane may be included in the display
field (or as a separate window selectable from the display field of the
visual rendering), showing all available layers, and allowing a viewer to
select each available layer to be either displayed or hidden (toggle
on/off), thus facilitating comparative viewing of layers.

[0354] Furthermore, any of the above-mentioned exemplary categories for
layers, as well as other categories not specifically mentioned above, may
have sub-categories for sub-layers, such that each sub-layer may also be
selectively enabled or disabled for viewing by a viewer. For example,
under the general layer designation of "marking layer," different
facility types that may have been detected during a marking operation
(and indicated in the marking information by color, for example) may be
categorized under different sub-layer designations ("marking
layer--electric;" "marking layer--gas;" "marking layer--water;" etc.); in
this manner, a viewer may be able to hide only the electric marking
information while viewing the gas marking information, or vice versa, in
addition to having the option to view or hide all marking information.
Sub-layer designations similarly may be employed for the landmark
information (e.g., "landmark layer--water/sewer;" "landmark layer--CATV;"
"landmark layer--buildings"), and any other category of information.

[0355] Virtually any characteristic of the information available for
display may serve to categorize the information for purposes of display
layers or sub-layers. It should further be appreciated that, according to
various embodiments, the attributes and/or type of visual information
displayed as a result of selecting one or more layers or sub-layers is
not limited. In particular, visual information corresponding to a
selected layer or sub-layer may be electronically rendered in the form of
one or more lines or shapes (of various colors, shadings and/or line
types), text, graphics (e.g., symbols or icons), and/or images, for
example. Likewise, the visual information corresponding to a selected
layer or sub-layer may include multiple forms of visual information (one
or more of lines, shapes, text, graphics and/or images). From the
foregoing, it may be appreciated that a wide variety of information may
be categorized in a nested hierarchy of layers, and information included
in the layers may be visually rendered, when selected/enabled for
display, in a variety of manners.

[0356] FIG. 22 provides an illustrative example of the use of display
layers, according to some embodiments of the present invention. In FIG.
22, electric line locate marks 2102 and gas line locate marks 2204 are
digitally represented on the input image 1902 shown on screen 2200. The
legend tab 2206 includes a layers legend 2208 displaying the facility
types corresponding to the rendered lines. Each line segment is
associated with a check box that controls whether the corresponding line
segment is displayed. To hide a digital representation of a single line
segment, the check box associated with that line segment may be
unchecked. To hide all of the line segments corresponding to a particular
underground facility, the check box associated with that underground
facility may be unchecked. For example, to hide all of the electric line
locate marks 2202 so that only the digital representations of gas line
locate marks 2204 are shown, a user may simply uncheck the check box 2210
in the layers legend 2208. The resulting screen 2300 is shown in FIG. 23.
Rechecking a check box, such as check box 2210, will cause the associated
line(s) to again be displayed.

[0357] It should be appreciated that the layer feature described above may
be used to selectively hide or display any of the digital representations
described herein. For example, the layer feature may be used in
connection with lines corresponding to underground facilities, lines
corresponding to other features such as white lines or boundary lines,
notes (e.g., text boxes), labels (e.g., utility types or dimensions),
and/or symbols representing environmental landmarks, non-movable objects
or other reference features. The layers legend described above may be
used to control the various layers. As described in connection with the
underground facility line segments, some layers may include sub-layers
that allow portions of a digital representation to be hidden or
displayed.

[0358] As yet another example, locate signal data, which relates to the
locate signals detected by a locating device (on which locate marks
generally are based), may be categorized as one or more layers. According
to one exemplary implementation, a "locate signal" layer may include
sub-layers of different facility types detected, in which respective
facility types are rendered on the display as electronic detection marks
and/or lines having different colors, line types and/or shading
(respectively referred to as "detection indicators"). The depicted locate
signals may be peak locate signals (e.g., locate signals exceeding some
threshold). Alternatively, locate signals may be depicted more generally,
but peak locate signals may be depicted in a different manner (e.g.,
using a different color or using a separate layer) so as to distinguish
them from weaker locate signals. Sub-sub-layers of a facility type
sub-layer may include different signal characteristics (e.g., frequency,
amplitude, phase, gain), in which different signal values are rendered on
the display as text (e.g., in proximity to the visual rendering of the
detected facility line of the corresponding type).

[0359] Locate signal data represented by one or more detection indicators,
and locate mark data represented by one or more locate mark indicators,
may be displayed together for visual comparison. For example, an input
image may have one or more locate signal layers (or "detection" layers)
and one or more locate mark layers overlaid thereon, each of which may be
selectively enabled for display. Such a display allows a user to check
for potential discrepancies, such as locate marks at a location where
there were no locate signals or, conversely, locate signals (e.g., peak
locate signals) at a location where there were no locate marks. Various
embodiments and exemplary implementations of selective display of one or
more display layers including electronic locate marks, as well as one or
more display layers including electronic detection marks, are discussed
in detail in U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No. 12/649,535, filed
on Dec. 30, 2009, entitled "Methods and Apparatus for Displaying an
Electronic Rendering of a Locate and/or Marking Operation using Display
Layers," published on May 13, 2010 as U.S. publication no.
2010-0117654-A1, which application and corresponding publication are
hereby incorporated herein by reference.

[0360] In addition to the layers described above relating to locate
information and marking information, according to some embodiments
"revision layers" may be employed to provide for multiple electronic
records relating to the same dig site or locate operation. Multiple
revision layers may form part of a single electronic manifest, respective
electronic manifests may be generated per revision, or an electronic
manifest may include only particular/selected revisions. By way of
example, the layers legend 2208 of FIG. 23 indicates that the layers
shown in the figure correspond to a "current revision." Accordingly, it
should be appreciated that like other layers, a given revision layer may
include a number of sub-layers respectively corresponding to the various
categories of information making up that revision layer (e.g., the
"current revision" layer illustrated in FIG. 23 includes respective
sub-layers for "labeling", "electric," and "gas.")

[0361] With respect to revision layers, in some implementations "original"
information constituting an electronic manifest (e.g., one or more base
images on which manifests are created, locate mark indicators as
originally drawn and/or uploaded, detection indicators as originally
drawn and/or uploaded, etc.) may be modified in some respect (to provide
"modified" information) while at the same time maintaining the integrity
of the original information. The original information may related to an
original electronic manifest as prepared by a technician at a work
site/dig area, or may correspond to a current revision layer that already
includes some modifications to an original electronic manifest, for which
additional modifications are desired. The original information itself may
be identified as a particular revision layer (e.g., "Original") and may
include multiple display layers as discussed above, and the modified
information constituting a new revision layer may be identified as such
(e.g., "Contractor Revisions") and also may include multiple display
layers.

[0362] In one aspect relating to revision layers, there may be a
one-to-one correspondence between the display layers constituting the
original information and the display layers constituting the modified
information, wherein one or more layers of the modified information
include one or more revisions to the original information in that/those
layers. In another aspect, one or more display layers constituting the
original information may be purposefully excluded from the modified
information, such that there are fewer display layers constituting the
modified information. In this example, of the fewer display layers in the
modified information, no remaining layer may have revisions (i.e., the
only modification may be the exclusion of some original information), or
one or more remaining layers may have one or more revisions to the
original information. In yet another aspect, the modified information may
contain one or more additional display layers not found in the original
information. Accordingly, it should be appreciated that one or more
revisions to the original information to provide modified information for
a new revision layer may include some subset of the original information
(omissions of original information without further modifications),
edits/changes/alterations to at least some part of the original
information, or additions to the original information (with or without
edits/changes/alterations to the original information).

[0363] In some implementations relating to revision layers, it may be
desirable to not only maintain/preserve original information on which
modification may be based, but to also prevent modifications to, and/or
viewing of, some or all of the original information. Furthermore, the
same may be true of one or more revision layers based on modified
information; i.e., it may be desirable to maintain/preserve modified
information constituting a particular revision layer, and in some cases
prevent further modification to, and/or viewing of, some or all of the
modified information once it has been saved as a revision layer.
Accordingly, in some embodiments, the current revision (comprised of
original information or modified information) or certain layers thereof
may be locked (e.g., write-protected) to prevent unauthorized
modifications (e.g., deletion of layers or changes to digital
representations). Similarly, one or more layers of a particular revision
may be designated as hidden or copy-protected, such that they cannot be
copied into a new revision layer.

[0364] Thus, a new revision layer may be created that may be wholly or
partially modifiable, and may include at the outset all or only a portion
of the information in a previous revision. According to one exemplary
implementation, the new revision layer is created based on a prior
revision such that, at least initially, the new revision layer includes
all of the layers of the prior revision layer. However, since it may be
desirable to prevent certain digital representations from being viewed,
at least by certain parties, certain layers or sub-layers may be deleted
or hidden from unauthorized viewing in the new revision layer.
Alternatively, the new revision layer may be created at the outset with
only a designated subset of the layers of the prior revision layer.
Further, changes may be permitted in the new revision layer, such as the
addition of new layers and/or new digital representations, and/or
modifications to existing sub-layers of the new revision layer.

[0365] Revision layers may be used for various purposes. For example,
revision layers may be used so a third party (e.g., a regulator or damage
investigator) may create an annotated version of an electronic manifest
based on original information (or in some case modified information). The
third party (or other user) may create a new revision layer based on an
"original" revision layer and include annotations in the new revision
layer to indicate, for example, where damage occurred and where
underground facilities are located vis a vis where they are indicated as
being located in the original revision layer. Revision layers may also be
used to create a new version of an electronic manifest, based on either
original information or modified information, that includes a subset of
the content in the previous revision, without necessarily further
modifying any information in the new version. The purposeful exclusion of
some information from revision to revision (e.g., based on facility type,
facility owner, landmark type, content of one or more image layers, etc.)
may be useful in maintaining the proprietary nature/confidentiality of
some information; for example, information in a previous revision
regarding a first utility company's infrastructure may be purposefully
excluded from a new revision of a manifest that may be passed on to a
different utility company. In this manner, locations of certain
underground facilities may be hid from parties not associated with those
underground facilities.

[0366] In yet another aspect relating to revision layers, different users
or classes of users may have different privileges with respect to
creation of revision layers. For example, once a user/technician has
created an original electronic manifest, the user/technician themselves
and/or other parties may have access to the original electronic manifest
to create one or more revisions of same; however, all such parties may
not necessarily have the same functionality available to them via the
user device 210 to create such revisions. Stated differently, the
"status" or identify of a given user or class of user may be associated
with a degree to which they may modify information in an electronic
manifest to create revisions (e.g., based on particular functionality
that may or may not be enabled on the user device 210).

[0367] For example, different classes of users, such as "technician,"
"supervisor," "third party investigator," "facility owner," "regulator,"
and the like may be established and identified with corresponding editing
privileges (e.g., via a log-in procedure). Based on the designated
editing privileges, a given user may have limited or unlimited capability
to create new revision layers. In one example, the technician who creates
an original electronic manifest may have substantially limited or no
privileges with respect to creating new revision layers, whereas the
technician's supervisor may have unlimited editing privileges (e.g., to
write-protect certain layers, copy-protect certain layers, modify certain
layers, etc.). Similarly, third party investigators may have limited
editing privileges to annotate and/or add symbols/markings to certain
layers without modifying original content, and facility owners may have
access to only certain layers pertaining to their own facilities.
Generally speaking, various functionality of the user device 210 may be
itself selectively enabled and disabled based on the corresponding
editing privileges identified with a certain user or class or user, to
provide for a wide variety of options in connection with the creation of
revision layers.

[0368] Symbols representing environmental landmarks, non-movable objects
or other reference features may be digitally represented on the input
image 1902 to provide points of reference in the marked-up digital image.
To add such a symbol, a user may select the symbols icon 1924, which will
cause the drop down menu 2400 of FIG. 24 to appear. The drop down menu
2400 includes such symbols as pole, light pole, switch cabinet, pedestal,
gas station, gas valve, transformer, manhole, handhole, duct run, fire
hydrant, water meter and damage location. If the user selects the fire
hydrant symbol 2402 from the menu, the symbol will appear on the input
image 1902, as shown on screen 2500 of FIG. 25. The symbol 2402 may then
be positioned by dragging the symbol, using a pointer, to a desired
location.

[0369] While symbols and lines are referred to herein as different
entities, it should be appreciated that lines or other markings may be
considered as a type of symbol. For example, symbols may comprise both
vector graphics-based symbols (e.g., lines) and icon-based symbols (e.g.,
bitmap or JPEG images). Thus, the lines described herein may have the
same or similar attributes and/or functions as the symbols described
herein.

[0370] Tie-downs may be used in connection with symbols or other features
digitally represented on the input image 1902, or in connection with
features of the input image 1902 itself, to indicate distances between
such features and digitally represented underground facilities. To add a
tie-down, a user may select the tie-down icon 1922, which will cause a
tie-down pointer to appear. The tie-down icon 1922 may optionally be
selectable only when a digital representation of an underground facility
has been created. The user may position the tie-down cursor at a desired
location along a digital representation of an underground facility, and
actuate a mouse or other user input device at that location to indicate a
start point of the tie-down. This actuation will cause a tie-down line
having a fixed start point and a moveable end point to appear over the
input image 1902. The user may then position the tie-down pointer at a
desired end-point location, which is generally a reference location
spaced from the start point. The user may actuate a mouse or other user
input device at the location to indicate an end point of the tie-down,
which will cause the pop-up window 2600 of FIG. 26 to appear. The pop-up
window 2600 includes a reference location menu 2602 that allows the user
to select the type of the reference location (e.g., "fire hydrant" and
"fence"), and a length field 2604 that allows the user to select or
specify a length of the tie-down. The length field 2604 may be linked to
sliding length indicator 2606 such that sliding an arrow 2608 on the
length indicator causes the length specified in the length field 2604 to
correspondingly increase or decrease.

[0371] It should be appreciated that the user need not specify the length
of the tie-down, as it may be automatically calculated using the user
specified start point and end point of the tie down. For example, the
distance between the start point and end point may be calculated using
the latitude and longitude coordinates associated with each point, which
may be derived from the geo-location data associated with the input image
1902 underlying the tie-down. Known algorithms exist for calculating a
distance between latitude and longitude coordinates. For example, the
haversine formula may be used to calculate the great-circle distance
between two sets of latitude and longitude coordinates.

[0372] The underground facility type field 2610 may default to the type of
underground facility associated with the start point of the tie-down, or
the type may be selected by the user. The title field 2612 may be
automatically populated with a default title based on the specified
tie-down length and type of reference location, or a user-selected title
may be provided. Once the desired parameters and title of the tie-down
have been established, the user may approve or cancel the selections
using approve/cancel icons 2614.

[0373] Examples of tie-down lines that may be created using the
above-described process are shown on screen 2700 of FIG. 27. A first
tie-down line 2702 has a start point along gas line locate marks 2204 and
an end point at fire hydrant symbol 2402. The tie-down line 2702 is
labeled with a title, established using pop-up window 2600, that
indicates the distance between the gas line and the fire hydrant. For
example, the title may read "G 11' 2" of FH'' which indicates that the
gas line is offset 11 feet and 2 inches from the fire hydrant. A second
tie-down line 2704 has a start point along gas line locate marks 2204 and
an end point at an edge of a driveway. The tie-down line 2704 is labeled
with a title, established using pop-up window 2600, that indicates the
distance between the gas line and the driveway. For example, the title
may read "G 35' 4" of DW'' which indicates that the gas line is offset 35
feet and 4 inches from the driveway.

[0374] The application may be configured to require a minimum number of
tie-downs (e.g., at least two) per underground facility. If a user
attempts to save or close the marked-up image without creating the
required minimum number of tie-downs, an alert such as that shown in the
pop-up window 2800 of FIG. 28 may appear. Pop-up window 2800 includes
message 2802 informing the user that at least one underground facility is
missing at least one tie-down. The window 2800 also includes a message
2804 specifying which underground facilities are missing at least one
tie-down, and how many are missing for each. Finally, the window 2800
includes an options menu 2806 allowing a user to select how to proceed.
In the example of FIG. 28, the options menu 2806 allows a user to select
between returning to the prior screen to create the additional tie-downs
or exiting the application without saving the marked-up image.

[0375] Although the tie-down feature is described above as being used in
connection with representations of underground facilities, it should be
appreciated that tie-downs may also be used in connection with other
lines or features. For example, tie-downs may be used to indicate
distances between environmental features and white lines or boundary
lines.

[0376] A text box may be added overlaying the input image 1902 by
selecting text icon 1918 and selecting a location for the text box. This
causes the text pop-up window 2900 of FIG. 29 to appear. The pop-up
window 2900 includes text fields 2902a-c, which allow a user to specify
the font, color and size of the text, and text box fields 2904a-b, which
allow a user to specify the background and border color of the text box.
A reason for the text box may be provided by selecting an appropriate
option from drop down menu 2906. Possible reasons may include, e.g.,
providing an address, a note to supervisor, a note about the site, a note
about the facilities, or a note about the plats. The reason may be logged
as part of the electronic record including the marked-up digital image.
Finally, the pop-up window 2900 includes a text field 2908 where the
content of the text box may be typed. Once the desired parameters and
content of the text box have been established, the user may approve or
cancel the selections using approve/cancel icons 2910, which causes a
text box 3002 to be rendered on input image 1902, as shown on screen 3000
of FIG. 30.

[0377] An underlying image is not required to create the digital
representations (e.g., underground facilities, environmental landmarks,
tie-downs, and text boxes) described herein. For example, as discussed in
connection with FIG. 17, the grid pad icon 1704 shown in initial screen
1700 may be selected to generate a bare grid on which digital
representations of physical locate marks may be created. When the grid
pad icon 1704 of FIG. 17 is selected, the pop-up window 3100 of FIG. 31
appears. The window 3100 includes an instruction directing the user to
select a reason for using the grid pad from a pull-down menu 3102.
Exemplary reasons that may be selected in the pull-down menu 3102 include
that the acquired image was incorrect for the location, too small,
outdated, inverted, reversed, cut-off, of poor resolution, or included
excessive tree cover. Another exemplary reason that may be selected in
the pull-down menu 3102 is that an image could not be acquired, e.g., due
to poor cellular coverage. If none of the reasons provided in pull-down
menu 3102 are appropriate, the user may select "other," which will cause
the user to be prompted to specify a reason in a pop-up text box.
Specifying a reason for using the grid pad may optionally be required for
the user to access the grid pad feature. Input fields 3104 for specifying
latitude and longitude coordinates for the grid may also be specified.
The latitude and longitude specified may used to establish a reference
point on the grid, for example by assigning the latitude and longitude to
a center point on the grid.

[0378] In some cases, an input image cannot be used because the user
device on which the user interface application runs may have no
connection to an image server, e.g., via the Internet, from which input
images may be accessed. The user interface application may optionally be
configured to automatically detect this lack of connectivity and
automatically access the grid pad feature and/or prompt the user to
confirm that the grid pad feature should be used.

[0379] FIG. 32 shows a screen 3200 including a bare grid 3202, wherein the
user interface application is in a sketching mode. As when an underlying
input image is used, digital representations of underground facilities,
environmental landmarks, tie-downs, text boxes, etc. may be created
overlying the grid. Further, as when an underlying image is used, a scale
3204 and geographic coordinates 3206 may be displayed. The scale 3204
corresponds to a scale of the grid, and the geographic coordinates 3206
correspond to a geographic location of a point on the grid (e.g., the
centroid).

[0380] As discussed in connection with FIG. 19, one of the line types that
may be selected when the application is in sketching mode is "white
line." White lines may be created on either a displayed input image or on
a bare grid by selecting the line type icon 1920 and "white line" from
the drop down menu, and then rendering the white lines using the line or
pencil tools associated with icons 1914 and 1916. FIG. 33 shows a screen
3300, wherein the input image 1902 includes white lines 3302 thereon.
White lines formed using paint or other materials are conventionally used
at dig sites to designate a dig area. A user may create white line
representations as part of the electronic record to recreate physical
white lines that are present at the dig site. As with other types of
lines, tie-downs associated with the white line representations may be
created and/or required.

[0381] The marked-up images and/or grids described herein may be saved as
part of an electronic record. As described in connection with FIG. 17,
the save/exit icon 1702 may be used to initiate a save operation. The
marked-up images and/or grids may be saved in a number of formats. For
example, the digital representations of the marked-up images and/or grids
may be saved separately from the images or grids themselves (e.g., in an
associated data file), or as metadata thereof.

[0382] It may be necessary to determine the extents of an image and/or
grid to be saved. According to one exemplary method for determining the
extents of an image, the centroid of the digital representations formed
on the image and/or grid are first determined. Next, the extents of the
digital representations are determined using the centroid as a reference
point. For example, the extents of the digital representations may
comprise a pair of coordinates (e.g., -x,-y and +x,+y) that define the
smallest rectangle fully encompassing the digital representations. This
rectangle may be referred to as the "mark-up rectangle." Thereafter, the
area of the mark-up rectangle may be compared to a predetermined minimum
area, referred to as the "minimum image rectangle." If the area of the
mark-up rectangle is smaller than the area of the minimum image
rectangle, then the image or grid may be saved using the extents of the
minimum image rectangle. Alternatively, if the area of the mark-up
rectangle is greater than the area of the minimum image rectangle, then
the image or grid may be saved using the extents of a "buffered mark-up
rectangle" that comprises the mark-up rectangle with a buffer region
therearound.

[0383] In some cases, a locate technician will not identify any
underground facilities during a locate operation. This is generally
referred to as a "clear." In this case, although there are no underground
facilities to be identified on an input image or grid, the application
may be configured to require at least one digital representation on the
input image or grid (e.g., a text box including the designation "clear")
to permit a save operation. Alternatively, the application may be
configured to require some other indication that the dig area was cleared
(e.g., a menu selection) to permit a save operation in cases where no
underground facilities are identified on the input image or grid.

[0384] FIG. 34 shows an exemplary pop-up window 3400 that appears when the
save/exit icon 1702 described above is used to initiate a save operation.
The window 3400 includes a ticket details area 3402 that may identify the
ticket number, locate technician number, and date and time that the
electronic record was saved. The window 3400 also includes a location
information area 3404 that may identify the latitude and longitude
coordinates where the locate operation was performed and/or where the
electronic record was saved. In addition to being displayed for a user,
the information in ticket details area 3402 and location information area
3404 may be saved as part of the electronic record. The user may specify
the types of marking materials used in markings area 3406. If the locate
technician did not identify any underground facilities, the
"clear/aerial" checkbox may be marked. Signature area 3408 is provided so
that the user may sign (e.g., using a mouse or other user interface
device) to certify that the information provided in the electronic record
is correct.

[0385] As further described in connection with FIG. 17, the application
may be configured to automatically receive current GPS coordinates from a
GNSS receiver. The received GPS coordinates may be used to verify that
the electronic record of the locate operation is created at or near the
work site.

[0386] According to one exemplary GPS verification algorithm for
performing the verification above, when the location technician creates,
saves or modifies the electronic record, first data representing the
current geographic location (e.g., latitude and longitude coordinates
received from the GNSS receiver) is input to the GPS verification
algorithm. Second data representing a location of the work site is also
input to the GPS verification algorithm. The second data may comprise (1)
the centroid of the input image or grid on which digital representations
are formed (e.g., latitude and longitude coordinates corresponding to the
centroid) and/or (2) a location of the work site as indicated in the
ticket information (e.g., latitude and longitude coordinates identifying
the location of the work site in the ticket information). The first data
representing a current geographic location and the second data
representing a location of the work site may be recorded as part of the
electronic record. Using the above-identified first and second data
respectively representing first and second geographic locations, the GPS
verification algorithm may automatically verify that the electronic
record of the locate operation is created at or near the work site.

[0387] FIG. 35 shows an illustrative process 3500 that the GPS
verification algorithm may perform. This process is similar to a process
described in U.S. publication no. 2009-0327024-A1, incorporated herein by
reference, which uses first, second, and third data representing three
respective geographic locations to automatically assess the quality of a
locate operation based on the proximity of the three locations. The
process begins at act 3502, where the GPS verification algorithm receives
the first and second data. The process next continues to act 3504, where
the GPS verification algorithm compares the first data indicative of the
geographic location at which the locate technician created, saved or
modified the electronic record of the locate operation to the second data
indicative of the location of the work site as derived from the ticket
and/or geo-encoded input image or grid and determines whether these two
geographic locations are within a threshold distance of each other. If,
at act 3504, the GPS verification algorithm determines that these two
geographic locations are not within the threshold distance of each other,
the process continues to act 3506, where the GPS verification algorithm
identifies a warning condition. If, at act 3504, the quality assessment
application determines that these two geographic locations are within the
threshold distance of each other, the process continues to act 3508,
where the GPS verification algorithm identifies an approved condition.
After act 3506, the process may continue to act 3510, where the
application presents a warning alerting the user to the discrepancy
between the first and second data. Such a warning may comprise a red bar
with a warning message that appears at the bottom of a screen of the user
interface. Additionally or alternatively, an indication of the
discrepancy between the first and second data may be provided in the
electronic record.

[0388] Another application for received GPS coordinates is indicating a
path of a locate operation as part of the electronic record. For example,
a locate technician may be provided with a GPS device, and the computer
may receive from the GPS device coordinates indicating one or more
locations of the locate technician during the locate operation. The user
interface application may be configured to automatically represent the
one or more locations of the locate technician on the input image or grid
associated with the electronic record. The representations may, for
example, comprise symbols or a particular line color or style indicative
of a locate technician path. The representations of the locate technician
path may be used by a supervisor or other entity to verify the accuracy
of the electronic record.

[0389] Length-Based Analysis of Locate Marks

[0390] Other processes may be performed by the user interface application
to analyze various data contained in the electronic record so as to
provide information based at least in part on a length of one or more
locate marks created during a marking operation and represented in a
drawing associated with an electronic record. In exemplary
implementations discussed below, such a length-based analysis of locate
marks may be employed in a determination of costs associated with a
locate and/or marking operation, and/or aspects of technician performance
of the operation. For example, the data of the electronic record may be
used to automatically determine a cost associated with the activities of
a locate technician in a dig area. In some implementations, this type of
analysis facilitates automatic billing for a locate operation based on an
electronic record.

[0391] FIG. 36 shows an illustrative process 3600 for determining a cost
associated with physical marks created by a locate technician in a dig
area. The process begins at act 3602 with the user interface application
determining the approximate length of the physical mark(s) represented in
a drawing associated with an electronic record. According to one example,
the user interface application may determine an approximate length of the
physical locate marks by calculating a distance between the endpoints of
each straight or substantially straight line segment (e.g., segments
between vertices) of the representations of the physical locate marks and
then summing the calculated distances for all of the segments. The
distance between the endpoints of each line segment may be calculated
using the latitude and longitude coordinates associated with each
endpoint, which may be derived from the geo-location data associated with
an input image and thus with the representations overlaid thereon. A
known algorithm, such as the haversine formula discussed herein, may be
used to calculate the distance between latitude and longitude
coordinates.

[0392] Next, at act 3604, the user interface application determines the
cost associated with the physical locate marks using the determined
approximate length of the marks and a price per unit length of the marks.
The user interface application may be preprogrammed with, or accept an
input corresponding to, a price per unit length of the physical marks.
Such a price may correspond to a desired charge, per unit length, for a
locate technician to create physical locate marks in connection with a
locate operation. The cost may be computed as a product of the
approximate length of the physical locate marks, as previously
determined, and the price per unit length of the physical marks.

[0393] In the example described in connection with FIG. 36, the computed
cost is based on a length of physical locate marks created by a locate
technician in a dig area. However, the process 3600 may be adapted to
compute the cost based on additional or alternative factors. For example,
the process may compute a cost associated with identifying the location
of environmental features (e.g., a fire hydrant or other landmark) based
on the identification of such features in a marked-up image and/or grid.
As another example, the process may compute a cost associated with the
creation of one of more tie-downs based on a number of such tie-downs in
a marked-up image or grid. Further, different prices may be applied for
different activities. For example, different prices may be associated
with the marking of different types of facilities. It should also be
appreciated that costs may be calculated for aspects and activities
associated with the locate operation that do not involve marking. For
example, the process may determine a cost for the locate operation based,
at least in part, on the location of the dig area, as determined from the
electronic record.

[0394] FIG. 37 shows an illustrative process 3700, according to another
embodiment of the present invention, for assessing the productivity
and/or competence of a locate technician who performed a locate
operation, based at least in part on data relating to a drawing (e.g., a
marked-up image or grid) of an electronic record. The process begins with
acts 3602 and 3604, which were described above in connection with FIG.
36. In particular, the user interface application determines the length
of the representation of the physical mark(s) at act 3602, and determines
an approximate actual length of the physical locate marks using the
determined length of the representations of the physical locate marks and
the scale of the representation at act 3604.

[0395] At act 3702 of FIG. 37, the user interface application determines a
length of time associated with the creation of physical mark(s). To do
so, the user interface application may automatically acquire data from a
data-enabled locating and/or marking device that indicates how long a
locate technician spent performing a particular task or tasks. For
example, the user interface application may automatically acquire data
from the data-enabled locating and/or marking device that indicates an
elapsed time between when a locate operation was initiated (e.g., when
paint was first deposited by the device, when the device was turned on or
undocked, or when the device first detected an underground facility) and
when a locate operation was completed (e.g., when paint was last
deposited by the device, when the device was turned off or docked, or
when data from the device was uploaded to a computer).

[0396] At act 3704 in FIG. 37, the productivity and/or competence of the
locate technician is assessed using the determined approximate actual
length of the physical mark(s) and the determined length of time
associated with the creation of the physical mark(s). First, the user
interface application may divide the determined length of time associated
with creation of the physical mark(s) by the determined approximate
actual length of the physical mark(s) to obtain an average length of time
spent by a locate technician per unit length marked. Then, the user
interface application may automatically assess the productivity and/or
competence of the locate technician by comparing the average length of
time spent by the locate technician per unit length marked to an expected
length or time or some other relative data point. Additionally or
alternatively, a supervisor or other individual may assess the
productivity and/or competence of the locate technician using their own
knowledge or experience and/or by manually comparing reference data.

[0397] It should be appreciated that the processes described in connection
with FIGS. 36 and 37 are merely exemplary and that many variations are
possible. For example, the processes may be initiated by a user via the
user interface application, or may be initiated automatically in response
to some event (e.g., completion of the electronic record or a drawing
associated therewith). In the latter case, the processes may be performed
such that the user is unaware of their performance. Further, the data
used to determine or estimate the length of the physical marks in the
processes of FIGS. 36 and 37 may also have different possible origins.
For example, the data may originate from a data-enabled locating and/or
marking device rather than from user input. In addition, the processes of
FIGS. 36 and 37 need not be performed in connection with a single
electronic record or locate operation. Rather, data from a plurality of
electronic records or a plurality of locate operations could be assessed
in a similar manner to determine more general trends.

[0398] Image Processing

[0399] With respect to the exemplary digital images (e.g., digital
photographs, aerial images, maps, engineering drawings, etc.) that may
serve as a basis for creating an electronic manifest, according to other
embodiments of the present invention a variety of image processing
techniques may be employed (e.g., via the processing unit of the user
device 210 executing the user interface application 337) to facilitate
the creation of manifests. In exemplary aspects discussed in further
detail below, such image processing techniques may be particularly
helpful in situations in which the clarity and/or resolution of the image
is such that features of significance relevant to documenting the locate
operation via the electronic manifest are blurred or indeterminate. In
such cases, image processing techniques may be used to facilitate
improved feature recognition and/or detection in the image. In other
examples, it may be desirable to remove objects in part or entirely from
a digital image; for example, with respect to photographic images,
objects such as cars, bicycles, trees, other landscape features, and the
like may have been present in the scene at the time the image was
acquired, but may no longer be present in the environs at the time the
locate operation is conducted. In such cases, particularly if such
objects interfere in some manner with the dig area and/or other elements
of the electronic manifest important for appropriately documenting the
locate operation, image processing techniques may be used to "erase," in
whole or in part, one or more objects from the image.

[0400] With respect to image processing relating to electronic manifests,
edge-detection and other image processing algorithms (e.g., smoothing,
filtering, sharpening, thresholding, opacity/transparency, etc.) may be
employed in connection with various types of base images to improve
feature recognition and/or remove undesirable features. In some exemplary
implementations, in a manner similar to that noted above in connection
with image layers, multiple graphics layers (e.g., bitmap and/or vector
graphics layers) may be composited over a given base image, wherein one
or more graphics filters are employed for the respective graphics layers
to improve one or more aspects of image quality and enable comparative
viewing of original and processed image information.

[0401] With respect to lower resolution images, in some cases it may be
difficult to discern the boundaries of certain environmental features of
relevance to the locate operation. According to one exemplary
implementation, this difficulty may be addressed by applying an edge
detection algorithm to images to be displayed, and displaying the
detected edges as a layer overlaying the lower resolution image. One
exemplary edge detection algorithm that may be employed (e.g., as a
routine of the user interface application) is the Canny edge detection
algorithm, which is a known algorithm in image processing. The algorithm
may generate lines along the borders of areas having strong intensity
contrast. Thus, the algorithm may preserve important structural
properties in the image, while filtering out less useful information.

[0402] FIG. 38 shows an example of a lower resolution image 3800 which may
serve as a base image for an electronic manifest. FIG. 39 shows a screen
3900 displaying the lower resolution input image 3800 with an edges layer
3902 overlaid thereon, pursuant to execution of an edge detection
algorithm as a routine of the user interface application. The edges shown
in the edges layer assist a user in identifying boundaries, and therefore
in determining the proper location of digital representations of
different underground facility types (locate mark indicators, detection
indicators), dig area indicators, boundary lines, symbols or other
features, relative to those boundaries. The boundaries may correspond to
the boundaries of structures, such as a house or garage, and/or
environmental features, such as a sidewalk or body of water. In the
example shown in FIG. 39, the boundaries of the dwelling 3904 are shown
more clearly in the edges layer than in the underlying image, which may
assist the user in marking up the image. A grid layer 3906 is also shown
overlaid on the input image 3800. The edges layer 3902, the grid layer
3906 and an input image layer corresponding to input image 3800 are
identified in the layers legend 2208 under the legend tab 2206. Using the
check boxes associated therewith, each of the layers may be selectively
hidden or displayed.

[0403] An exemplary process for creating an edges layer 3902 will now be
described. In some implementations, Map Suite GIS Software (based on .NET
components) available from ThinkGeo LLC of Frisco, Tex.
(http://thinkgeo.com/) may be used in connection with processing and
manipulation of base images for electronic manifests, and one or more
libraries/applications available from AForge.NET
(http://www.aforgenet.com/framework/) may be employed for various image
processing functions for one or more base images.

[0404] With respect to edge detection, first, a same size, grayscale copy
of the lower resolution image 3800 is created. Next, a Canny edge
detection filter, such as the Canny edge detection filter available
through the open source AForge.NET computer vision and artificial
intelligence library
(http://www.aforgenet.com/framework/features/edge_detectors_filters.html)
is applied to the grayscale copy to compute edge outlines. Since the
resulting filtered image will have whiter lines at the location of the
edges, the gray palette of the filtered image is inverted so that the
edge outlines are shown as darker lines. Additionally, an alpha component
of the dark pixels may be set to implement opacity for the outline image
lines. Next, a threshold filter may be applied to the filter
gray-palette-inverted image to significantly reduce noise lines and
pixels, and may reduce the width of the edge lines to approximately one
to two pixels in width.

[0405] The threshold filtered image may then by converted to a bitmap
image with a desired pixel aspect ratio and scale, and overlaid on the
base image to comparatively illustrate the clarified edges (e.g., the
image aspect ratio and scale of the bitmap image should match that of the
original base image so that it overlays correctly at all zoom and pan
settings). Factors to be considered in matching or sufficiently
approximating image scales include the original scale of the base image
and grayscale copy image against which the edge outlines were computed,
and the ratio of the original map screen size to the current screen size.

[0406] In the example of FIG. 39, the input image 3800 is an aerial
photograph; however, the input image layer may comprise any of the input
images described herein. For example, the input image layer may comprise
a facility map, such as the facility map 1200 of FIG. 12. As another
example, the input image layer may comprise the map 1100 of FIG. 11 or
another road map showing road names and/or house addresses. Further,
edges layer 3902 is just one exemplary layer that may be overlaid on an
input image to enhance the input image. Other image processing algorithms
may be applied to an input image, and the result may be rendered in its
own layer. For example, a sharpened input image or a threshold filtered
input image may be rendered as a layer. The layer resulting from the
image processing algorithm may be composited over the input image on
which it was based or may be used in place of the original input image.

[0407] In addition, some or all of a layer (e.g., an image layer, a
markings layer and/or a revision layer) may be transparent, so that when
the layer is overlaid on another layer, the lower layer is still at least
partially visible. The user interface application may accept parameters
from a user to set the transparency of a layer.

[0408] Another issue that may arise in connection with a base image is
that cars, trees or other environmental features may appear where a dig
area indicator, locate mark indicator, and/or detection indicator is to
be drawn or otherwise electronically rendered. In this case, it may be
desirable to essentially erase the feature from the image so that the
digital representation does not appear on top of the environmental
feature. The user interface application may be configured to allow the
input image to be manually or automatically modified so that these or
other extraneous features appearing in an image may be altered. According
to one example, the user interface application may include shape or
object recognition software that allows such features to be identified
and/or removed. One example of software capable of recognizing features
in an image, such as an aerial image, is ENVI® image processing and
analysis software available from ITT Corporation of White Plains, N.Y.
Exemplary features that may be recognized include vehicles, buildings,
roads, bridges, rivers, lakes, and fields. The user interface application
may be configured such that a value indicating a level of confidence that
an identified object corresponds to a particular feature may optionally
be displayed. Automatically identified features may be automatically
modified in the image in some manner. For example, the features may be
blurred or colored (e.g., white, black or to resemble a color of one or
more pixels adjacent the feature). Additionally, or alternatively, the
user interface application may include drawing tools (e.g., an eraser
tool or copy and paste tool), that allow such features to be removed,
concealed, or otherwise modified after being visually recognized by a
user or automatically recognized by the user interface application or
associated software.

[0409] FIG. 40 shows a screen 4000 displaying an input image 1902
including several cars 4002a-c. The cars 4002a-c are identified with
lines 4004 around their perimeters. The cars may be automatically
identified as discussed above or may be manually identified by a user,
e.g., by using a drawing tool. In either case, the lines 4004 identifying
the cars may be displayed when the "cars layer" or some subset thereof
(e.g., car 1 and car 2) are activated in the layers legend 2208 under the
legend tab 2206. When a user selects an identified car using a cursor
4006, a pop-up window 4008 may appear. The pop-up window 4008 allows a
user to select a method of editing the selected image feature, which in
the example shown is "car 1" 4002a. Exemplary editing methods include
blurring the pixels of the image feature and coloring the pixels of the
image feature (e.g., black, white, an average color of the pixels of the
feature, or an average color of surrounding pixels). Upon selecting an
editing method from the drop-down menu and selecting "continue," the
editing effect may be automatically applied to the feature. In this
manner, the car is erased or essentially erased from the input image
1902.

[0410] "Manual" Creation of Base Image

[0411] As discussed in connection with FIG. 31, an acquired input image is
not required as a base on which to create an electronic manifest
including various digital representations (e.g., underground facilities,
environmental landmarks, tie-downs, and text boxes) as described herein.
The bare grid 3202 shown in FIG. 32 is one alternative to an acquired
input image. Another alternative, described in connection with FIG. 41,
is that a user may create an underlying image using the drawing tools
and/or symbols of the user interface application. FIG. 41 shows a screen
4100 that includes roadways 4104, a building 4106 and a tree 4108
rendered using the user interface application. For example, the roadways
4104 may be rendered using a line tool associated with icon 1914. The
building 4106 and tree 4108 may be rendered using symbols selected from
the drop down menu associated with the symbols icon 1924. The renderings
of the roadways 4104, building 4106 and tree 4108 may be grouped as a
layer referred to as a manual drawing layer 4102. This layer 4102 may be
selectively enabled or disabled for display by selecting the associated
check box in the layers legend 2208 under the legend tab 2206.

[0412] The user interface application may be configured such that the
features of the manual drawing layer 4102 may be rendered to
automatically conform to a particular scale, such as scale 3204. For
example upon selection of a dwelling symbol from the drop down menu
associated with the symbols icon 1924, the user may be prompted to input
the dimensions or approximate size of the dwelling. Then, the user
interface application may render the dwelling symbol according to the
inputted dimensions or size and the scale 3204. Alternatively, the user
may simply manually alter the size of the dwelling symbol with reference
to the scale 3204. In either case, as the zoom tools under map tools 1804
are used to change the scale of the drawing, the dwelling symbol may
automatically change in size in accordance with the change in scale. To
assist a user in manually rendering the features of the manual drawing
layer 4102 to conform to a particular scale, a grid layer 4110 may be
displayed as shown on the screen 4112 of FIG. 41A. The grid layer 4110
may comprise a grid to which a user may refer in determining an
appropriate size of the manual renderings. The scale of the grid may
correspond to the scale 3204 shown on the screen 4112, such that the
length of one square of the grid is equal to a length (e.g., 5 feet)
shown on the scale 3204. Alternatively, the length of one square of the
grid may correspond to one unit length (e.g., 1 foot) or some arbitrary
length. The grid layer 4110 may be overlaid on the underlying manual
drawing layer 4102. Alternatively, the manual drawing layer 4102 may
alternatively be overlaid on the grid layer 4110. If the manual drawing
layer 4102 is at least partially transparent, the grid will be visible
even though it is below the manual drawing layer. The grid layer 4110 may
be selectively enabled or disabled for display in the same manner as the
manual drawing layer 4102, i.e., by selecting the associated check box in
the layers legend 2208 under the legend tab 2206.

[0413] Accuracy Indicators

[0414] The representations of the physical locate marks applied to a dig
area, and/or detection indicators representing geographic locations of
detected facilities, are described herein in some implementations as
being manually rendered by a user, e.g., using the line tools associated
with icon 1914. Alternatively however, as noted earlier, the
representations of detected and/or marked facilities may be rendered
automatically (e.g., on a base image) to create an electronic manifest
according to various embodiments of the present invention, based on data
received from a data-enabled locating device and/or marking device. For
example, U.S. publication no. 2010-0117654-A1, published May 13, 2010,
which is incorporated herein by reference, describes how information
regarding the approximate geographic location of detected and/or marked
underground facilities (as well as a host of other information relating
to a locate operation) may be received directly from a locating and/or
marking device and rendered in a display field and, when a base image is
available, overlaid on the base image. U.S. publication no.
2010-0090700-A1, published Apr. 15, 2010, which is also incorporated
herein by reference, describes how information regarding the approximate
geographic location of detected and/or marked underground facilities may
categorized into a plurality of display layers for electronic rendering.

[0415] For GPS-enabled locating and/or marking devices, the inventors have
appreciated that the accuracy of geographic information (e.g., GPS
longitude and latitude coordinates) available from locate tracking
systems integrated with such devices may vary from time to time, based at
least in part on the availability of satellites, environmental
interference (which in some instances may arise from features of the
landscape in the vicinity of a locate operation), and/or positioning of
the locating and/or marking device during use by a technician, for
example. Accordingly, another embodiment of the present invention relates
to including accuracy information in an electronic manifest that in some
manner provides an indication of the accuracy of geographic information
contained in the electronic manifest.

[0416] With reference to FIG. 42, in one implementation pursuant to this
embodiment, accuracy information is provided in the form of one or more
accuracy indicators in a marked-up image that includes one or more locate
mark indicators and/or one or more detection indicators. For purposes of
illustration, the screen 4200 of FIG. 42 shows the manual drawing layer
4102 of FIG. 41 with representations of physical locate marks, rendered
based on data from a GPS-enabled locating and/or marking device, and
associated accuracy indicators overlaid thereon. In particular, FIG. 42
shows a series of closely-spaced locate mark indicators 4202 (e.g.,
representing a marked underground facility such as an electric line to
the building 4106) and accuracy indicators 4204 associated with the
locate mark indicators 4202. In this example, the accuracy indicators
4204 comprise dashed lines encircling respective locate mark indicators.
The dashed lines represent a radius of possible error associated with the
GPS-based location data for the corresponding locate mark indicator. As
noted above, the accuracy indicators may be larger in instances in which
environmental features (e.g., tree 4108) causes interference with a GPS
signal, a number of available satellites from which geographic
information may be calculated is reduced, and/or where a GPS-enabled
locating and/or marking device has not yet settled, for example.

[0417] As discussed above in connection with other embodiments, according
to one aspect of this embodiment the accuracy indicators 4204 may be
rendered as a separate layer from the locate mark indicators 4202 to
facilitate comparative viewing (i.e., the accuracy indicators and the
locate mark indicators respectively may be selectively hidden or
displayed by selecting the associated check boxes in the layers legend
2208 under the legend tab 2206). It should be appreciated that the dashed
circular lines constituting the accuracy indicators 4204 in FIG. 42 are
one illustrative example of rendering such indicators. Alternatively, for
example, a range of potential error may be shown as one or more shaded
regions surrounding a collection of locate mark indicators, using numeric
values, or using a color code in which various colors correspond to
different potential errors or ranges of potential errors. For example,
FIG. 42A shows a screen 4210 in which an accuracy indicator 4206 is
provided in the form of a shaded region having the same area encompassed
by the circular accuracy indicators 4204 of FIG. 42. Thus, in this case,
the shaded region represents a region of possible error associated with
the GPS-based location data for the locate mark indicators 4202. If
desired, the envelope of the shaded region may be automatically smoothed
to eliminate sharp transitions.

[0418] Accuracy indicators, such as those described above, are not limited
to use in connection with automatically rendered representations of
detected and/or marked facilities. Accuracy indicators may also be used
in connection with manually rendered representations of detected and/or
marked facilities to indicate a range of potential error associated with
the representations. The screen 4212 of FIG. 42B shows the manual drawing
layer 4102 of FIG. 41 with representations of physical locate marks,
rendered manually by a user, and associated accuracy indicators overlaid
thereon. In particular, FIG. 42B shows manually rendered locate mark
indicators 4214 (e.g., representing a marked underground facility such as
an electric line to the building 4106) and accuracy indicators 4216
associated with the locate mark indicators 4214. In this example, the
accuracy indicators 4216 comprise dashed lines surrounding the locate
mark indicators 4214 that represent a range of potential error associated
with the locate mark indicators. The range of potential error may
represent, for example, the area in which one may expect to find physical
locate marks corresponding to the locate mark indicators. According to
one example, the range of potential error is estimated by a user
generating the manually rendered locate mark indicators 4214. The user
may then generate the accuracy indicators 4216 in manner that represents
the range of potential error. For example, the user may render the
accuracy indicators 4216 as dashed lines and select an appropriate width
for the dashed lines using the line tools associated with icon 1914.

[0419] Although the accuracy indicators described above are shown overlaid
on manual drawing layer 4102, it should be appreciated that the accuracy
indicators may be overlaid on any one or more of the base images
described herein (e.g., a facilities map, an aerial photograph and/or a
grid). The manual drawing layer is just one example of a base image that
may be used.

[0420] Geographic Offset/Calibration Factors

[0421] Another source of possible error that may arise in connection with
receiving geographic information from a locating and/or marking device
and overlaying such information on a base image or grid relates to
discrepancies that may exist between underlying GIS information relating
to the base image or grid and the reference frame for geographic
information received from the locating and/or marking device. To mitigate
such discrepancies, another embodiment of the present invention relates
to using one or more reference points in a dig area or more generally in
the environs of a locate operation to determine a geographic offset that
may be used as a calibration factor that is applied to one or both of the
base image/grid or geographic information received from a locating and/or
marking device.

[0422] In an exemplary scenario in which a geographic offset/calibration
factor may facilitate more accurate creation of an electronic manifest, a
locate technician may use a locating device and/or a marking device for a
locate operation, and in so doing may recall that such a device was
actuated (e.g., to acquire a signal relating to a detected magnetic
field, or to dispense paint on the ground) at a particular geographic
location at some point during the locate operation (e.g., at the end of a
curb adjacent an edge/boundary of a driveway). However, when the
technician thereafter views a displayed image on which geographic
information from the device(s) is overlaid, the technician notes that
there are no electronic indicators (e.g., detection indicators or locate
mark indicators) on the displayed image at the end of the curb adjacent
the edge/boundary of a driveway, but rather that one or more such
indicators appear in the displayed image in the center of the driveway,
where no detection or marking was done during the locate operation. In
this situation, the technician has clear evidence that there is some
discrepancy between the geographic information obtained from the locating
and/or marking devices, and the geographic information on which the
displayed image is based (e.g., GIS information/metadata accompanying the
displayed image).

[0423] FIG. 43 shows an illustrative process 4300 for compensating for
such discrepancies. The process begins at act 4302, wherein the user
interface application receives the device-based coordinates for a
reference location from a GPS-enabled locating and/or marking device. For
example, a GPS-enabled locating and/or marking device may be actuated at
a reference location in or near the dig area or generally in the environs
of the locate operation (e.g., at some point that would be expected to be
displayed in a display field for an electronic manifest). A variety of
features or objects may serve as reference locations for this purpose,
examples of which include, but are not limited to, various natural or
man-made features of the landscape, some of which may relate to utility
infrastructure (e.g., curb edges at a corner, utility poles, fire
hydrants, mailbox, pedestal, corner of a building, etc.). The
device-based GPS coordinates at the reference location where the locating
and/or marking device was actuated may be transmitted to a computer and
subsequently received by the user interface application.

[0424] At act 4304, the user interface application determines the
map-based coordinates for the reference location based on a user input
identifying the reference location in an image. For example, the user
interface may display a map, aerial image, or other image that shows the
reference location and prompt a user to identify the reference location
in the image (e.g., by clicking on the reference location in the image).
The user interface application can then refer to underlying GPS data
associated with the image to determine the map-based coordinates for the
reference location. Next, the process proceeds to act 4306, in which the
user interface application determines an offset between the device-based
coordinates and the map-based coordinates for the reference location,
which offset may serve as a calibration factor to be applied to one of
the device-based coordinates and the map-based coordinates. At act 4308,
the user interface application uses such a calibration factor by applying
it to other geographic information obtained thereafter from the locating
and/or marking device to adjust the relationship between this information
and the geographic information associated with a base image on which
locate mark indicators and/or detection indicators are to be overlaid.

[0425] While the example of FIG. 43 relates to determining an offset with
respect to one set of GPS coordinates, it should be appreciated that a
plurality of offsets may be determined in the same manner (e.g., by
selecting multiple reference locations for comparison). Doing so may be
helpful to establish consistency between the determined offsets. When a
plurality of such offsets are determined, an average of the offsets may
be calculated, and the user interface application may adjust the
relationship between digital representation of area and the underlying
location data based on the average offset.

[0426] The process 4300 of FIG. 43 may be initiated by a user of the user
interface application. Alternatively, the user interface application may
initiate the compensation process in response to some event (e.g., the
receipt data from a GPS-enabled device). Once the compensation process
has been performed in connection with a GPS-enabled device, data relating
to the compensation parameters may be stored so that they may be applied
in connection with future data received from that GPS-enabled device or,
in some cases, other GPS-enabled devices.

[0427] The process described in connection with FIG. 43 is just one
exemplary method for compensating for discrepancies between the
geographic information obtained from locating and/or marking devices and
the geographic information on which the displayed image is based. Another
method for compensating for such discrepancies involves a user manually
adjusting the location of locate mark indicators and/or detection
indicators with respect to a base image using the tools of the user
interface application. FIG. 43A provides an illustrative example. In FIG.
43A, a series of closely-spaced locate mark indicators 4314 (e.g.,
representing a marked underground facility such as an electric line) are
shown overlaid on a base image 4316. The locate mark indicators 4314
comprise a layer distinct from the base image, as shown in the layers
legend 2208 under the legend tab 2206. If a user (e.g., a technician) who
created the physical locate marks recalls having made the marks along the
curb 4318, but observes the locate mark indicators 4314 to be offset from
the curb shown in the base image 4316, the user may manually alter the
location of the locate mark indicators 4314 with respect to the base
image 4316. In particular, the user may select the locate mark indicators
4314 using a lasso 4312 associated with the select icon 1904 and move the
locate mark indicators to their known correct location using a cursor
4006 associated with the move icon 1906. For example, the user may drag
the selected locate mark indicators 4314 downward with respect to the
base image 4316 so that the locate mark indicators are closer to the curb
4318. Once this compensation process has been performed in connection
with a GPS-enabled device, data relating to the relocation of the locate
mark indicators 4314 (e.g., distance and direction moved) may be stored
so that the same compensation may be automatically applied in connection
with future data received from that GPS-enabled device or other
GPS-enabled devices.

[0428] While the locate mark indicators 4314 in FIG. 43A form a continuous
line, in other cases the locate mark indicators may be scattered, and it
may not be clear which locate mark indicators relate to actions of the
locate and/or marking operation occurring during a particular time frame.
To ensure that only desired locate mark indicators are relocated, the
displayed locate mark indicators may be filtered based on time prior to
the select and move operation described in connection with FIG. 43A.

[0429] In yet other aspects, scattered locate mark indicators in
connection with a given marking operation may be "smoothed" by running a
regression through the collection of locate mark indicators and obtaining
a best fit of a line through the collection of indicators. Alternatively,
if via inspection of displayed information a user/technician can identify
what appear to be one or more reliable locate indicators amidst scattered
indicators (or obvious breaks in displayed data), the user may select a
reliable first indicator and a reliable second indicator, draw a line
through these points, and select one or more additional points on this
line as substitute indicators. For example, in a marking operation
involving the presence of trees, a technician may obtain a series of
reliable GPS readings until passing under a tree, at which point
scattered or no GPS readings are acquired. In a resulting image after
processing, one or more reliable indicators on either side of the tree
may be connected via line to replace the scattered/missing data in the
vicinity of the tree.

[0430] Since the initial location of the locate mark indicators in the
discussion above reflects the data as it was received from the
GPS-enabled device, it may be desirable to only allow modification of a
copy of the locate mark indicators such that the data reflecting the
original location of the locate mark indicators may be preserved. One
exemplary method for doing so in the examples above is to lock (e.g.,
write-protect) the displayed layer and create a revision layer, as
discussed in connection with FIG. 23, that is freely modifiable by a
user. Thus, the first layer may include the raw GPS data and the second
"revision" layer may include a "cleaned up" (e.g., error corrected)
version of the raw GPS data.

[0431] Overlaid Digital Media

[0432] A locate technician or other individual associated with a locate
and/or marking operation may store photographs, movies, sound clips
and/or other digital media that capture aspects of a locate and/or
marking operation or the environment of the dig area. For example, the
locate technician may use a camera to capture a digital photograph of a
fire hydrant representing a landmark in the dig area. The locate
technician may then store the digital photograph on the user device 210,
for example by transferring the digital photograph thereto from a memory
associated with the camera or by directly saving the digital photograph
on the user device.

[0433] It may be desirable to display the digital media or a
representation thereof in the context of a representation of the locate
and/or marking operation. FIG. 44 shows a screen 4400 displaying an input
image 1902 with a photograph 4402 of an environmental feature, in this
case a fire hydrant, overlaid thereon. A label 4404 identifying a time
and/or date at which the photograph was captured may be displayed in
connection with the photograph 4402.

[0434] The photograph 4402 may be overlaid on the input image 1902 at the
location where the photograph was captured. According to one example, the
user manually places the photograph on the input image 1902 at the
approximate location where the photograph was captured. The user may
retrieve the photograph from a storage location on the user device,
estimate the location depicted in the photograph, and position the
photograph such that it is overlaid on the input image 1902 at the
estimated location. For example, the user may drag the digital file of
the photograph from a window or folder on the user device 210 to the
desired location on screen 4400. According to another example,
geo-location data (e.g., metadata) associated with the photograph 4402
may be used to determine the location depicted in the photograph, and the
photograph may be manually or automatically positioned at that location.
For example, the user device 210 may detect when a camera storing the
photograph is plugged into a universal serial bus (USB) port of the user
device and automatically import the photograph into the user interface
application. The user interface application may automatically position
the photograph 4402 with respect to the input image 1902 by correlating
geo-location metadata associated with the photograph with geo-location
metadata associated with the input image. In addition to being manually
or automatically positioned on the input image 1902, the photograph may
be manually or automatically oriented on the input image (e.g., with a
particular angle corresponding to a direction in which the photograph was
taken).

[0435] Display of the photograph 4402 may be selectively enabled or
disabled using layers legend 2208 under the legend tab 2206. Multiple
photographs or other digital media may be collectively enabled or
disabled for display as a layer by selecting or deselecting a checkbox
associated therewith in the layers legend 2208. In a similar manner,
sub-layers comprising one or more constituents thereof may be enabled or
disabled for display by selecting or deselecting an associated check box.
One exemplary hierarchical digital media layers structure comprises a
layer for all overlaid digital media, sub-layers for photographs, movies,
sound clips, and sub-sub-layers for individual photographs, individual
movies, and individual sound clips.

[0436] Enabling or disabling the display of digital media layers may be
useful, for example, when multiple digital media files correspond to and
are thus represented at the same location. When all of the layers for
such files are enabled, the representations may be stacked. To view a
particular media file representation, the layers corresponding to
overlaid media file layers may be hidden by selectively disabling the
layers.

[0437] A user may provide an input to the user interface application to
enlarge or otherwise modify the display of the photograph 4402. For
example, when a user clicks on or mouses over the photograph 4402, a
pop-up window with a larger version of the photograph may appear. The
user may similarly interact with representations of overlaid movies or
sound clips. For example, clicking on an overlaid representation of a
movie or sound clip may cause a pop-up window with playback controls for
the movie or sound clip to appear.

[0438] Since overlaid photographs or other digital media may obscure
aspects of the input image, it may be desirable to allow a user to
selectively display digital media and/or associated information or
controls. FIG. 45 shows a screen 4500 having an interface for selectively
displaying a digital media file. In particular, FIG. 45 shows a screen
4500 displaying an input image 1902 with a camera icon 4506 overlaid
thereon. The location of the camera icon 4506 with respect to the input
image 1902 may indicate the location at which the photograph 4402 of FIG.
44 was captured. Using a cursor 4006, a user may mouse over or click the
camera icon 4506 to cause the photograph 4402 and/or the label 4404
corresponding to the camera icon 4506 to be displayed. The rotational
orientation of the camera icon 4506 may indicate the directional
orientation of the camera capturing the image at the time the photograph
4402 was captured. For example, the rotational orientation of the camera
icon 4506 shown in FIG. 45 indicates that the camera was facing in the
direction of arrow 4508 when the image was captured.

[0439] Facilities Map Layers

[0440] As discussed in connection with FIG. 39, the user interface may
display multiple image layers, each of which may be selectively enabled
or disabled for display. For example, in FIG. 39, an input image layer, a
grid layer and/or an edges layer may be enabled for display. Another
image layer that may be useful in the context of the renderings described
herein is a facilities map layer.

[0441] A facilities map is any physical, electronic, or other
representation of the geographic location, type, number, and/or other
attributes of a facility or facilities. Facilities maps may be supplied
by various facility owners and may indicate the geographic location of
the facility lines (e.g., pipes, cables, and the like) owned and/or
operated by the facility owner. For example, facilities maps may be
supplied by the owner of the gas facilities, power facilities,
telecommunications facilities, water and sewer facilities, and so on.

[0442] Facilities maps may be provided in any of a variety of different
formats. As facilities maps often are provided by facility owners of a
given type of facility, typically a set of facilities maps includes a
group of maps covering a particular geographic region and directed to
showing a particular type of facility disposed/deployed throughout the
geographic region. One facilities map of such a set of maps is sometimes
referred to in the relevant arts as a "plat."

[0443] Some types of facilities maps include a variety of electronic
information, including geographic information and other detailed
information, regarding the contents of various features included in the
maps. In particular, facilities maps may be formatted as geographic
information system (GIS) map data, in which map features (e.g., facility
lines and other features) are represented as shapes and/or lines, and the
metadata that describes the geographic locations and types of map
features is associated with the map features. In some examples, a GIS map
data may indicate a facility line using a straight line (or series of
straight lines), and may include some symbol or other annotation (e.g., a
diamond shape) at each endpoint of the line to indicate where the line
begins and terminates. From the foregoing, it should be appreciated that
in some instances in which the geo-locations of two termination or
end-points of a given facility line may be provided by the map, the
geo-location of any point on the facility line may be determined from
these two end-points.

[0444] Examples of a wide variety of environmental landmarks and other
features that may be represented in GIS facilities map data include, but
are not limited to: landmarks relating to facilities such as pedestal
boxes, utility poles, fire hydrants, manhole covers and the like; one or
more architectural elements (e.g., buildings); and/or one or more traffic
infrastructure elements (e.g., streets, intersections, curbs, ramps,
bridges, tunnels, etc.). GIS facilities map data may also include various
shapes or symbols indicating different environmental landmarks relating
to facilities, architectural elements, and/or traffic infrastructure
elements.

[0445] Examples of information provided by metadata include, but are not
limited to, information about the geo-location of various points along a
given line, the termination points of a given line (e.g., the diamond
shapes indicating the start and end of the line), the type of facility
line (e.g., facility type and whether the line is a service line or
main), geo-location of various shapes and/or symbols for other features
represented in the map (environmental landmarks relating to facilities,
architectural elements, and/or traffic infrastructure elements), and type
information relating to shapes and/or symbols for such other features.

[0446] The GIS map data and metadata may be stored in any of a variety of
ways. For example, in some embodiments, the GIS map data and metadata may
be organized into files, where each file includes the map data and
metadata for a particular geographic region. In other embodiments, the
GIS map data and metadata may be stored in database and may be indexed in
the database by the geographical region to which the map data and
metadata corresponds.

[0447] For facilities maps in electronic form, a variety of digital
formats of facilities maps may be used including, but not limited to, a
vector image format that is the typical output format of computer-aided
design (CAD) tools. In one example, some facilities maps may be in a DWG
("drawing") format, which is a format that used for storing two and three
dimensional design data and metadata, and is a native used by several CAD
packages including AutoCAD, Intellicad, and PowerCAD. However, those
skilled in the art will recognize that facilities maps may be in any of
several vector and/or raster image formats, such as, but not limited to,
DWG, DWF, DGN, PDF, TIFF, MFI, PMF, and JPG.

[0448] As noted above, in some instances in which facilities maps are in a
vector image format, a certain line on the facilities map may be
represented by a starting point geo-location, an ending point
geo-location, and metadata about the line (e.g., type of line, depth of
line, width of line, distance of line from a reference point (i.e.,
tie-down), overhead, underground, line specifications, etc.). To
facilitate display of facilities map information relating to multiple
different types of facilities, each vector image may be assembled in
layers, in which respective layers correspond, for example, to different
types of facilities (e.g., gas, water, electric, telecommunications,
etc.). In one aspect of such an embodiment, each layer is, for example, a
set of vector images that are grouped together in order to render the
representation of the certain type of facility.

[0449] FIG. 12 shows an example of a visual representation of a portion of
an electronic facilities map 1200. In this example, facilities map 1200
is a telecommunications facilities map that is supplied by a
telecommunications company. Facilities map 1200 shows telecommunications
facilities in relation to certain landmarks, such as streets and roads,
using lines and shapes. As discussed above, the electronic facilities map
may include metadata indicating what various lines, symbols and/or shapes
represent, and indicating the geo-location of these lines, symbols and/or
shapes. With respect to exemplary environmental landmarks and other
features, facilities map 1200 may include both visual information
(graphics and text) and metadata relating to utility poles, manholes,
streets, and any of a variety of other landmarks and features that may
fall within the geographic area covered by the facilities map 1200.
Another somewhat more simple example of a facilities map is given by the
facilities map 4600 shown in FIG. 46, representing a small portion of a
water and sewer pipe infrastructure.

[0450] In some embodiments, processing unit 320 of the user device 210
(and/or the processing unit 420 of the server 220) may execute a map
viewer application for displaying one or more facilities maps, which may
be selectively enabled and disabled for viewing as an image layer, alone
or together with other image layers. The map viewer application may be a
custom application or any conventional viewer application that is capable
of reading in electronic facilities maps data, and rendering all or a
portion of the electronic facilities maps data/input images to an image
that can be viewed in a display field of a display device. Examples of
conventional map viewer applications suitable for purposes of some
embodiments of the present invention include, but are not limited to, the
Bentley® viewer application from Bentley Systems, Inc. (Exton, Pa.)
and the ArcGIS viewer application from Environmental Systems Research
Institute (Redlands, Calif.).

[0451] To appropriately display a facility map as an image layer that may
be viewed concurrently with other image layers, the geo-spatial reference
frame employed for geographic information underlying the respective image
layers should preferably be the same. Accordingly, in some embodiments,
geo-location data associated with one or both of a facility map and
another image that may be viewed in relation to the facility map may be
converted, if necessary to a common geo-spatial reference frame to
facilitate accurate comparative viewing of the geographic information
contained in the respective images.

[0452] As known in the relevant art, a geographic or "global" coordinate
system (i.e., a coordinate system in which geographic locations on Earth
are identified by a latitude and a longitude value, e.g., (LAT,LON)) may
be used to identify geographic locations. In a "geocentric" global
coordinate system (i.e., a coordinate system in which the Earth is
modeled as a sphere), latitude is defined as the angle from a point on
the surface of a sphere to the equatorial plane of the sphere, whereas
longitude is defined as the angle east or west of a reference meridian
between two geographical poles of the sphere to another meridian that
passes through an arbitrary point on the surface of the sphere. Thus, in
a geocentric coordinate system, the center of the Earth serves as a
reference point that is the origin of the coordinate system. However, in
actuality the Earth is not perfectly spherical, as it is compressed
towards the center at the poles. Consequently, using a geocentric
coordinate system can result in inaccuracies.

[0453] In view of the foregoing, the Earth is typically modeled as an
ellipsoid for purposes of establishing a global coordinate system. The
shape of the ellipsoid that is used to model the Earth and the way that
the ellipsoid is fitted to the geoid of the Earth is called a "geodetic
datum." In a "geodetic" global coordinate system, the latitude of a point
on the surface of the ellipsoid is defined as the angle from the
equatorial plane to a line normal to the reference ellipsoid passing
through the point, whereas the longitude of a point is defined as the
angle between a reference plane perpendicular to the equatorial plane and
a plane perpendicular to the equatorial plane that passes through the
point. Thus, geodetic latitude and longitude of a particular point
depends on the geodetic datum used.

[0454] A number of different geodetic global coordinate systems exist that
use different geodetic datums, examples of which include WGS84, NAD83,
NAD27, OSGB36, and ED50. As such, a geographic point on the surface of
Earth may have a different latitude and longitude values in different
coordinate systems. For example, a stop sign at the corner Maple St. and
Main St. may have a latitude and longitude of (LAT1, LON1) in
the WGS84 coordinate system, but may have a latitude and longitude of
(LAT2, LON2) in the NAD83 coordinate system (where
LAT1≠LAT2 and/or LON1≠LON2). Thus, when
comparing geographic information in respective different images, it is
generally desirable to have both geographic points in the same global
coordinate system.

[0455] Additionally, when determining a geographic location based on
information derived from a map (e.g., a facilities map), the coordinate
system provided by the map may not be a global coordinate system, but
rather may be a "projected" coordinate system. As appreciated in the
relevant art, representing the curved surface of the Earth on a flat
surface or plane is known as a "map projection." Representing a curved
surface in two dimensions causes distortion in shape, area, distance,
and/or direction. Different map projections cause different types of
distortions. For example, a projection could maintain the area of a
feature but alter its shape. A map projection defines a relation between
spherical coordinates on the globe (i.e., longitude and latitude in a
global coordinate system) and flat planar x,y coordinates (i.e., a
horizontal and vertical distance from a point of origin) in a projected
coordinate system. A facilities map may provide geographic location
information in one of several possible projected coordinate systems.

[0456] Thus, to facilitate comparative viewing of respective image layers,
some of which may include one or more facilities map layers, it is
desirable to have the respective image layers represented in the same
geodetic global coordinate system or projected coordinate system
(projected from the same geodetic geographical coordinate system). For
example, in some embodiments, the geographic information underlying an
input image serving as the basis for an electronic manifest may be
provided as geo-location data in the WGS84 coordinate system (i.e., the
coordinate system typically used by GPS equipment), whereas the
facilities map information may be expressed in the NAD83 coordinate
system. Thus, in one example, the geographic information underlying an
input image may be converted to the NAD83 coordinate system so that the
input image (as one image layer) and the facilities map (as another image
layer) may be viewed comparatively. Of course, it should be appreciated
that the example of coordinate system conversion from WGS84 to NAD83 is
provided primarily for purposes of illustration, and any suitable
conversion may be implemented to facilitate comparative viewing of
multiple image layers.

[0457] Allowing a facilities map layer to be selectively displayed
together with an input image serving as a basis for an electronic
manifest, and/or a representation of a locate and/or marking operation
(e.g., a manually, semi-automatically, or automatically created
electronic manifest) provides a number of potential benefits. For
example, displaying a facilities map together with a rendering of a
locate and/or marking operation allows a user to visually verify whether
representations of locate mark indicators, detection indicators, or other
features appear in expected locations based on the locations of one or
more facilities indicated in a facilities map.

[0458]FIG. 47 shows a screen 4700 of the exemplary user interface
displaying an input image 1902 with a facilities map layer 4702,
including the facilities map 46 of FIG. 46, overlaid thereon. The
facilities map layer 4702 includes three sub-layers 4702a, 4702b and
4702b, which allow subsets of the facilities map layer to be selectively
enabled or disabled for display. If the facilities map layer 4702
comprises a facilities map showing underground water pipes, for example,
each sub-layer may correspond to a water pipe having a particular
diameter. The sub-layers are identified in the layers legend 2208 under
the legend tab 2206 and may be selectively enabled or disabled for
display using the check boxes associated therewith.

[0459] As with the other layers described herein, the facilities map layer
4702 may be made partially transparent so that features that would
otherwise be obscured by the facilities map layer 4702 may be viewed. The
degree of transparency of the facilities map layer 4702 may be varied
based on user input to the user interface application (e.g., an input
specifying a desired degree of transparency). Facilities map layer 4702
may also be entirely hidden by disabling the layer in the layers legend
2208.

[0460] Limited Access Files for Electronic Manifests

[0461] In some instances, it may be desirable for a single entity or a
limited number of entities to retain control over the status or other
information relating to a locate operation. For example, it may be
desirable for the entity that provides access to an electronic manifest
(EM) creation application (e.g., the user interface application 337) and
has initial control of one or more created EM images (e.g., marked-up
image 905 of electronic manifest 900) and/or the entire electronic
manifest itself to retain control of the images/manifest. One potential
benefit of retaining control of the electronic manifests and/or image
information contained therein is avoiding unauthorized edits to or
unauthorized use of the image(s)/manifests.

[0462] According to one example, a "controlling" entity that provides
access to an EM creation application (e.g., the user interface
application 337) retains control of one or more created images and/or
manifests, but allows other entities to access the images/manifest in
some instances in a limited manner. For example, the controlling entity
may provide a link (e.g., a hyperlink) to one or more EM images or the
entire manifest(s) (e.g., via an e-mail) or otherwise provide an
interface allowing the EM image(s)/manifests to be accessed (e.g., via a
customized or proprietary image viewing application). Such a link may
have a pre-established expiration date, such that clicking on the link
will not access the EM image(s)/manifests after the specified expiration
date. To maintain the integrity of the EM image(s)/manifests, the
application providing access to the EM image(s)/manifest may prohibit
copying of, saving of, or writing to the images/manifests. For example,
the EM image/manifest may be viewable only using a corresponding image
file viewer that allows limited access to the EM image/manifest. In
particular, copy, save and/or write access to the EM image/manifest may
be prohibited. In these and other respects discussed below, one or more
EM image files, or one or more files for a complete manifest, may be
stored and/or transmitted as "limited access files."

[0463] The EM image/manifest may, for example, be transmitted to a party
associated with the at least one underground facility with the
corresponding image file viewer so that the party may view the EM
image/manifest. For example, an executable file comprising the EM
image/manifest and image file viewer may be transmitted (e.g., a
customized image viewer may be transmitted to one or more onsite
computers). Alternatively, the image file viewer may be
downloaded/installed separately, e.g., from a web site of the controlling
entity, or the EM image/manifest may be viewed using an image file viewer
stored and executed on a server of the controlling entity.

[0464] In one implementation, the controlling entity may allow access to
the EM image(s)/manifest(s) only when a certain condition or conditions
are met. For example, the controlling entity may require a password
protected log-in procedure for access to the EM image(s)/manifest(s). In
particular, the image file viewer may require a password to permit
access. According to one implementation, the image file viewer may be
programmed to require an indication of acceptance of terms and/or
conditions prior to permitting access to the EM image(s)/manifest(s).
According to yet another example, the controlling entity may charge a fee
for permitting a third party to access one or more EM images/manifests,
such as a per-transaction fee or a subscription fee.

[0465] To prevent access to the EM image/manifest unless or until a
condition or conditions are met, the EM image/manifest may be encrypted
and require decryption to be readable. A corresponding image file viewer
may be required to decrypt the EM image/manifest. The EM image/manifest
and/or the corresponding image file viewer may also or alternatively be
proprietary, and may have a format specific to the controlling entity.
The image file viewer may optionally be programmed to determine whether
an updated version of the image file viewer is available. For example,
the image file viewer may interrogate information associated with the EM
image/manifest to determine a corresponding version of the image file
viewer. If an updated version is found, the viewer may prompt the user to
upgrade the application or otherwise facilitate an update.

[0466] The EM image/manifest may be transmitted in a variety of different
formats. For example, the EM image/manifest may be transmitted as an
image including locate mark indicators, detection indicators, and/or
landmark indicators thereon. Alternatively, the EM image/manifest may be
transmitted as a base image with associated metadata and/or a separate
file (e.g., an XML file) including information that allows the locate
mark indicators, detection indicators, and/or landmark indicators to be
rendered on or in connection with the base image. Such information may
comprise geographic coordinates specifying the respective indicators to
be displayed on the base image. The information included in the metadata
and/or separate file may also specify access permissions for the
respective indicators. For example, in the case where the information
that allows locate mark indicators to be rendered relates to a plurality
of dig sites, locate mark information for one or more dig sites may have
restricted access such that the corresponding locate mark indicators are
not rendered unless certain access conditions are met.

[0467] While the status information described above as being stored and/or
transmitted as a "limited access file" corresponds to one or more EM
images/manifests, the same principles may be applied to other types of
image-based or non-image files to limit the access to the status
information. For example, access to the data set 700 described in
connection with FIG. 7 may similarly be limited.

CONCLUSION

[0468] Aspects of the invention as described herein enable retrieving from
a database the appropriate input image of a specific geographic location,
or dig area, where locate operations are to be conducted for underground
facilities. The user may draft, on the retrieved image, a variety of
features, including but not limited to (1) the type of underground
facilities marked and/or detected using an appropriate color or other
coding schema, (2) the number of underground facilities marked and/or
detected within the dig area, (3) the approximate geographic location of
each set of underground facility locate mark indicators and/or detection
indicators, and (4) the appropriate environmental landmark offsets for
each set of underground facility locate marks. The combination of the
retrieved image and additional information drafted by the user may be
saved in a variety of formats as an electronic manifest. Other
information regarding the specific geographic location of the locate mark
indicators, detection indicators, and/or environmental landmark
indicators may be incorporated into the electronic manifest using direct
input from GPS-enabled positioning tools and the like. Various displayed
information may be categorized as multiple display layers for selectively
hiding and displaying certain types of information to facilitate
comparative viewing. If no base image is available, a grid system and/or
manual drawing tools may be used to generate a basis for creating an
electronic manifest.

[0469] The foregoing description is not intended to be exhaustive or to
limit the description to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and
variations are possible in light of the above disclosure or may be
acquired from practice of the invention.

[0470] For example, certain information was described as being presented
visually on a screen of user device 210. In other implementations, this
information may be audibly provided to the user. Also, particular
information was described as being input via an input device 340, such as
a screen of user device 210. In other implementations, this information
may be provided in other ways, such as by receiving inputs via input keys
and/or buttons, by recognizing speech of the user, or by monitoring a
condition of the user. More particularly, the input device 340 may be
capable of capturing signals that reflect a user's intent. For example,
the input device 340 may include a microphone that can capture a user's
intent by capturing the user's audible commands. Alternatively, the input
device 340 may interact with a device that monitors a condition of the
user, such as eye movement, brain activity, or heart rate.

[0471] As another example, certain components, such as user device 210 and
central server 220 were described as using an image cache. In other
implementations, user device 210 and/or central server 220 may
communicate with an image server (such as imager server 230) in
real-time, so that no image cache may be required. In still other
implementations, the user device 210 may, for example, communicate in
real time with the central server 220.

[0472] As another example, it should be noted that reference to a
GPS-enabled device is not limited to GPS systems only, and that any
global navigation satellite system or other system that provides
geo-spatial positioning may be used in implementations of the invention.

[0473] While various inventive embodiments have been described and
illustrated herein, those of ordinary skill in the art will readily
envision a variety of other means and/or structures for performing the
function and/or obtaining the results and/or one or more of the
advantages described herein, and each of such variations and/or
modifications is deemed to be within the scope of the inventive
embodiments described herein. More generally, those skilled in the art
will readily appreciate that all parameters, dimensions, materials, and
configurations described herein are meant to be exemplary and that the
actual parameters, dimensions, materials, and/or configurations will
depend upon the specific application or applications for which the
inventive teachings is/are used. Those skilled in the art will recognize,
or be able to ascertain using no more than routine experimentation, many
equivalents to the specific inventive embodiments described herein. It
is, therefore, to be understood that the foregoing embodiments are
presented by way of example only and that, within the scope of the
appended claims and equivalents thereto, inventive embodiments may be
practiced otherwise than as specifically described and claimed. Inventive
embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to each individual
feature, system, article, material, kit, and/or method described herein.
In addition, any combination of two or more such features, systems,
articles, materials, kits, and/or methods, if such features, systems,
articles, materials, kits, and/or methods are not mutually inconsistent,
is included within the inventive scope of the present disclosure.

[0474] The above-described embodiments can be implemented in any of
numerous ways. For example, the embodiments may be implemented using
hardware, software or a combination thereof. When implemented in
software, the software code can be executed on any suitable processor or
collection of processors, whether provided in a single computer or
distributed among multiple computers.

[0475] Further, it should be appreciated that a computer may be embodied
in any of a number of forms, such as a rack-mounted computer, a desktop
computer, a laptop computer, or a tablet computer. Additionally, a
computer may be embedded in a device not generally regarded as a computer
but with suitable processing capabilities, including a Personal Digital
Assistant (PDA), a smart phone or any other suitable portable or fixed
electronic device.

[0476] Also, a computer may have one or more input and output devices.
These devices can be used, among other things, to present a user
interface. Examples of output devices that can be used to provide a user
interface include printers or display screens for visual presentation of
output and speakers or other sound generating devices for audible
presentation of output. Examples of input devices that can be used for a
user interface include keyboards, and pointing devices, such as mice,
touch pads, and digitizing tablets. As another example, a computer may
receive input information through speech recognition or in other audible
format.

[0477] Such computers may be interconnected by one or more networks in any
suitable form, including a local area network or a wide area network,
such as an enterprise network, and intelligent network (IN) or the
Internet. Such networks may be based on any suitable technology and may
operate according to any suitable protocol and may include wireless
networks, wired networks or fiber optic networks.

[0478] The various methods or processes outlined herein may be coded as
software that is executable on one or more processors that employ any one
of a variety of operating systems or platforms. Additionally, such
software may be written using any of a number of suitable programming
languages and/or programming or scripting tools, and also may be compiled
as executable machine language code or intermediate code that is executed
on a framework or virtual machine.

[0479] In this respect, various inventive concepts may be embodied as a
computer readable storage medium (or multiple computer readable storage
media) (e.g., a computer memory, one or more floppy discs, compact discs,
optical discs, magnetic tapes, flash memories, circuit configurations in
Field Programmable Gate Arrays or other semiconductor devices, or other
non-transitory medium or tangible computer storage medium) encoded with
one or more programs that, when executed on one or more computers or
other processors, perform methods that implement the various embodiments
of the invention discussed above. The computer readable medium or media
can be transportable, such that the program or programs stored thereon
can be loaded onto one or more different computers or other processors to
implement various aspects of the present invention as discussed above.

[0480] The terms "program" or "software" are used herein in a generic
sense to refer to any type of computer code or set of computer-executable
instructions that can be employed to program a computer or other
processor to implement various aspects of embodiments as discussed above.
Additionally, it should be appreciated that according to one aspect, one
or more computer programs that when executed perform methods of the
present invention need not reside on a single computer or processor, but
may be distributed in a modular fashion amongst a number of different
computers or processors to implement various aspects of the present
invention.

[0481] Computer-executable instructions may be in many forms, such as
program modules, executed by one or more computers or other devices.
Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects,
components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or
implement particular abstract data types. Typically the functionality of
the program modules may be combined or distributed as desired in various
embodiments.

[0482] Also, data structures may be stored in computer-readable media in
any suitable form. For simplicity of illustration, data structures may be
shown to have fields that are related through location in the data
structure. Such relationships may likewise be achieved by assigning
storage for the fields with locations in a computer-readable medium that
convey relationship between the fields. However, any suitable mechanism
may be used to establish a relationship between information in fields of
a data structure, including through the use of pointers, tags or other
mechanisms that establish relationship between data elements.

[0483] Also, various inventive concepts may be embodied as one or more
methods, of which an example has been provided. The acts performed as
part of the method may be ordered in any suitable way. Accordingly,
embodiments may be constructed in which acts are performed in an order
different than illustrated, which may include performing some acts
simultaneously, even though shown as sequential acts in illustrative
embodiments.

[0484] All definitions, as defined and used herein, should be understood
to control over dictionary definitions, definitions in documents
incorporated by reference, and/or ordinary meanings of the defined terms.

[0485] The indefinite articles "a" and "an," as used herein in the
specification and in the claims, unless clearly indicated to the
contrary, should be understood to mean "at least one."

[0486] The phrase "and/or," as used herein in the specification and in the
claims, should be understood to mean "either or both" of the elements so
conjoined, i.e., elements that are conjunctively present in some cases
and disjunctively present in other cases. Multiple elements listed with
"and/or" should be construed in the same fashion, i.e., "one or more" of
the elements so conjoined. Other elements may optionally be present other
than the elements specifically identified by the "and/or" clause, whether
related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as
a non-limiting example, a reference to "A and/or B", when used in
conjunction with open-ended language such as "comprising" can refer, in
one embodiment, to A only (optionally including elements other than B);
in another embodiment, to B only (optionally including elements other
than A); in yet another embodiment, to both A and B (optionally including
other elements); etc.

[0487] As used herein in the specification and in the claims, "or" should
be understood to have the same meaning as "and/or" as defined above. For
example, when separating items in a list, "or" or "and/or" shall be
interpreted as being inclusive, i.e., the inclusion of at least one, but
also including more than one, of a number or list of elements, and,
optionally, additional unlisted items. Only terms clearly indicated to
the contrary, such as "only one of" or "exactly one of," or, when used in
the claims, "consisting of," will refer to the inclusion of exactly one
element of a number or list of elements. In general, the term "or" as
used herein shall only be interpreted as indicating exclusive
alternatives (i.e. "one or the other but not both") when preceded by
terms of exclusivity, such as "either," "one of," "only one of," or
"exactly one of" "Consisting essentially of," when used in the claims,
shall have its ordinary meaning as used in the field of patent law.

[0488] As used herein in the specification and in the claims, the phrase
"at least one," in reference to a list of one or more elements, should be
understood to mean at least one element selected from any one or more of
the elements in the list of elements, but not necessarily including at
least one of each and every element specifically listed within the list
of elements and not excluding any combinations of elements in the list of
elements. This definition also allows that elements may optionally be
present other than the elements specifically identified within the list
of elements to which the phrase "at least one" refers, whether related or
unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as a
non-limiting example, "at least one of A and B" (or, equivalently, "at
least one of A or B," or, equivalently "at least one of A and/or B") can
refer, in one embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than
one, A, with no B present (and optionally including elements other than
B); in another embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more
than one, B, with no A present (and optionally including elements other
than A); in yet another embodiment, to at least one, optionally including
more than one, A, and at least one, optionally including more than one, B
(and optionally including other elements); etc.

[0489] In the claims, as well as in the specification above, all
transitional phrases such as "comprising," "including," "carrying,"
"having," "containing," "involving," "holding," "composed of," and the
like are to be understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but
not limited to. Only the transitional phrases "consisting of" and
"consisting essentially of" shall be closed or semi-closed transitional
phrases, respectively, as set forth in the United States Patent Office
Manual of Patent Examining Procedures, Section 2111.03.